Championing the Environment Through Forest Gardens for Schools
Forest Gardens for Schools is an exciting new initiative as part of Norfolk’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations. Despite the name, forest gardens can be made in small spaces and are comprised of multiple layers. Everything from a canopy of fruit and nut trees and climbing plants, through to shrubs, herbs, and even perennial vegetables make up a successful forest garden. They are self-sustaining, low maintenance plant-based food production systems with an ethos based around woodland ecology.
This initiative, generously sponsored by the John Innes Foundation, aims to enable schools to utilise the space they have by developing a forest garden, consequently creating a more sustainable, biodiverse space, which can also yield food.
Dr Jenni Rant from the Science, Art and Writing (SAW) Trust said, “working with nature to improve outdoor spaces can provide excellent learning opportunities for young people and helps them connect with their environment. We are delighted to be working on this project and hope that schools will see a positive and sustainable transformation of their green spaces that the children will be keen to nurture.”
The first sessions took place at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse using the Food & Farming Discovery Trust’s mobile classroom. These sessions focused on teaching students more about the composition of forest gardens and woodland ecology, as well as allowing students to learn about the types of invertebrates that are found in different habitats so they can consider this when selecting plants for their own forest gardens.
Ben Earle from the Gressenhall Environment Hub said, “Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse is a site with a wide variety of habitats that are inspiring to schools. Our role at the Environment Hub is to help turn that inspiration into action, through partnerships like this we can support teachers in developing the green spaces they have at their disposal. Through planting participating schools will also be contributing to Norfolk County Council’s 1 Million Trees For Norfolk initiative.”
Follow up sessions will be conducted in schools, supporting students and teachers to survey their school grounds for existing plants, create school herbariums, and to help them select a space to create their forest garden. Students will be involved in the design, build and maintenance of the forest gardens, encouraging a greater awareness of their local environment and an opportunity to create better habitats to increase biodiversity.
Dr Shannon Woodhouse, Trust manager of the Food & Farming Discovery Trust said, “Spaces like these are extremely important, both for the environmental benefits and for promoting the wellbeing of our children and young people. As climate anxiety amongst children and young people is on the rise, we hope that that this project will equip students with some of the knowledge and tools they need to make a positive impact in their local area.”
This project has been developed by the Gressenhall Environment Hub, SAW Trust, expert horticulturalist Nik Thomson and the Food & Farming Discovery Trust, and has been funded by the John Innes Foundation. In this pilot year Swanton Morley VC Primary School and St Mary’s Community Primary School, Beetley are taking part. The team are planning to develop teacher training and online resources to enable other teachers and home educators to get involved.
