St Gregory's plan eco-friendly vegetable garden

St Greogry’s Catholic College Bath is undertaking an exciting project where the goal to create an accessible and eco-friendly wildlife and vegetable garden. This garden will be placed in a grass spot at the front of the school, an area that will benefit greatly from a renovation and show the passing world our commitment to the environment 'our common home'.

The project has two important avenues of leadership at the heart of its drive and implementation - sixth form student leadership and a horticultural therapy group for many of our students who struggle with mainstream academia.

The first area of the school to benefit from our project is at the front where there is lots of passing foot traffic. Our school is situated at the most southern tip of the city

surrounded by countryside and on the edge of the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. With a huge nearby housing development having a permanent

affect on the landscape, at St Gregory’s we wanted to use our front lawn to create a brand new wildflower meadow.

Our horticultural therapist has started working with a group of learners who have removed the turf, turned over the ground and exposed the soil to the winter elements in preparation for planting in spring.

One of the Year 8 students who participates each week is Ben who accepts that he is a much more hands-on learner who needs the benefits of out of the classroom education for his growth and development.

“I like doing hands on activities like trimming, cutting and building, it makes my week better. It’s important for me, because when I’m having a tricky week with other people, it gives me a break from being in class and helps me”.

Vegetable Garden

The second area of the school to be used for our project is an overgrown and previously inaccessible section of the playing field situated to the rear of the site. This huge grass area at the top of the astro pitch has been used for storage sheds which have become dilapidated over time, with the adjoining grass area being a dumping ground for large broken equipment.

The first phase of the project in this area is to remove all the broken equipment and clear the area for use with planting preparation and as a vegetable garden. A 20ft x 12ft polytunnel has been ordered and will take pride of place in the area. Our students along with other staff and sixth form volunteers will construct the polytunnel over the coming

weeks ready for the gardening group to begin spring planting.

"I like being in the fresh air and having a break from the noise of a classroom. It’s great fun, and is helping me learn a lot of gardening skills." - Michael

"It’s so nice to see the work I’ve done on display around school and then to watch

it grow." - Charlie