Up until this year, for more than 10 years, the site where the school garden now stands was a forest of tangled shrubs and trees. Thanks to the intensive efforts of the school Premises Officer, Mr. S., the garden was cleared and light was let into many places that had not seen any for a long time. He very kindly agreed to let the school have a plot in his garden to grow flowers and vegetables for educational purposes. Run by myself, and with the help of an army of keen young horticulturists, we transformed a bare patch of soil into a fantastic array of flowers and vegetables. Even with the drought we suffered this year, the plants still did remarkably well for their first year.

By clicking on either the words or the pictures below, you can see how the garden grew over the year, the type of things we grew and who came to visit us (in addition to the human beings). Sunflowers are always impressive, and ours were quite staggering this year - by seeing how the garden developed over the year, you can see how they grew and finally flowered. Runner beans are also always a dead cert for results, and ours certainly were. By selling these to staff and pupils, we raised some money for the school garden.

At the end of this page, I have also included some useful links to sites that I have found interesting and inspiring. I hope that school gardens will become ever more common place throughout schools (that are able to have a garden), as I can speak from personal experience that it provides a valuable personal learning experience for the children involved (not to mention the teachers who are keen to get their fingers dirty!).

The Garden began in April 2003 when, as part of my Easter holiday relaxation, I came in to dig the garden over and prepare it for planting. Watch the garden develop over the following months up until the end of the year.

The garden contained numerous vegetables and flowers (and weeds!) that provided an attractive place to visit for both pupils and teachers alike. This selection of photos hopes to give some idea of the stunning views a garden can offer.

Apart from the pupils and teachers who spent a few lessons among the beans and marigolds, a host of other visitors came too. The bigger ones were good at hiding, but some of the smaller ones allowed themselves to be caught on camera.