The DfES Growing Schools Garden

Chris Beardshaw is passionate about education believing it to be the only way we can ensure the survival of Britain’s rich gardening heritage.  The knowledge, unique skills and enthusiasm for specialist horticultural training are being slowly lost – in part due to the relative low income gardeners receive, and the erosion of hands on training. Education is at the core of Chris’s work so he was thrilled to be given the opportunity to work with 20 schools throughout the country to produce a major showpiece garden at The RHS Hampton Court Flower Show 2007.

The garden aims to demonstrate how children and teachers can interact in a varied outdoor environment and how their learning experience can be enhanced across all areas of the curriculum. 

Chris say’s:
As gardeners and adults we often take for granted outdoor spaces viewing them as an aesthetic extension of our lives. But children are full of excitement and once introduced to this varied and mesmerising environment their imaginations are sparked. This project sets out to demonstrate just what can be achieved in school grounds with the aim of turning what is so often barren grass into a life changing theatre.

The garden at 20x30m will be one of the largest show gardens this year and will incorporate areas of meadow, woodland, arid and wetland, fruit and vegetable garden, which will form the individual areas in which to showcase each of the 20 schools projects as well as offering a cob study centre, amphitheatre, poetry and story telling area, recycling centre, climbing wall, and willow woven ‘green man.’