Press Releases

September 22 2009

School gardens help children blossom

Four east Manchester primary schools have set up gardening clubs with the help of New East Manchester and Groundwork Manchester, Salford, Stockport, Trafford and Tameside.

Ashbury Meadow, Ravensbury, St Brigid’s and St Clements primary schools have all established gardens.  Funded by New Deal for Communities, the grant provided the money for the work, supplied plants, pots, tools, books and seeds and ‘T’ shirts, hats, gloves and waterproof clothing for the children.

Children from the schools participated in consultation workshops to establish what they would like to see in their school garden and then pupils and staff worked with a landscape architect from Groundwork on the design.

The Ravensbury Community Primary School garden has blackcurrant and redcurrant hedgerows, a mini-orchard and raised allotment beds where pupils are encouraged to cultivate a variety of vegetables and herbs.  The design creates an inclusive environment where small groups can play on the stepping stone paths, explore the wildlife area by looking for bugs under the rocks and amongst the wildflowers, gather at the picnic bench or help with new soil creation in the compost area.

Commenting on the project, Sean McGonigle, Deputy Chief Executive of New East Manchester said: “School gardening clubs are a great way to teach children a number of important life skills. Not only do they learn about caring for the environment but they can learn how plants and vegetables grow and flourish. These clubs offer the opportunity to enrich the curriculum and provide a valuable and mutually beneficial experience for all involved.  We hope the gardens will provide the schools with the opportunity to enhance their environmental education and awareness and encourage more young people to be involved in environmental activities which can contribute to their health, happiness and general well-being.” 

Groundwork’s Landscape architect, Julie Cundill, added: “This is one of the latest projects in which Groundwork has helped people to make changes in order to create better neighbourhoods, to build skills and live and work in a greener way.   Ravensbury Primary and New East Manchester have been wonderfully supportive in encouraging the pupils to take ownership of the design of the garden.  It is the pride that they now have for their school grounds that will ensure the success of this project”.

In addition educational support will be provided by The Lancashire Wildlife Trust, Philip’s Park Community Orchard and the Medlock Valley Nature Reserve.

For further information on New East Manchester visit www.neweastmanchester.com.