Myra Heller at Newington Green Primary School, 10th May

The children's knowledge and enthusiasm has grown along with their seeds.

Every child has their individual plants to care for, mostly tomatoes and peppers in the green house but we have also planted pumpkins, runner beans, French beans, mange tout (we ate our first one last week, it was hard to share it out to 11 children), courgettes (round yellow ones), sweet corn, lettuce, chard and carrots.

All have been watered by the water butts.

We looked at the ants trying to "farm" the aphids on our broad beans which are now at least 10cms high.

We've also been looking at ladybirds and understanding that they are NOT poisonous but beneficial.


Garden club spent almost all lunchtime pulling up hundreds of sycamore seedlings.

We have yet to do the compost properly, but the bins have been built and started.

Myra Heller at Newington Green Primary School

We have started spring term at Newington Green School and it's very exciting partly because the horrible weather is finally lifting. We have been working hard trying to clear the wildly overgrown space hidden behind the school like a secret. It's now our orchard and the children planted some baby fruit trees which was just great. We put in some pear, apples and plums. The children were thrilled to see the blossom just coming out of the buds. We talked about dormancy and why it was important to plant trees when they are asleep.

Year 3 are doing teeth in science and I have been struggling a little making the workshops relevant, apart from talking about how the nice fresh crunchy veg they're going to grow will do their teeth good! However, they have been studying ancient Romans and there has been a fantastic wealth of stuff to discuss there. Fortunately in the 'Mediterranean area' (e.g. the tubs in the playground) we just happen to have some plants that the Romans brought to Britain. So we stomped about pretending to be Centurions marching across filthy, muddy, uncivilised Britain taking with us the wondrous 'Lavare' (lavender) to keep us clean and anaesthetize our wounds.There was an olive tree so we talked about olive oil and how important it was and is as a food stuff and medicine. We looked at the fig tree and I struggled with trying to explain how it represented fertility. 'Is it a girl plant?' they asked. Also that the flower is contained inside the fruit and that it may have been the first ever plant cultivated by humans. We looked at the orange tree and I talked about citrus and that there were hundreds of kinds and tried to get them to guess some others. They got lemon and so I said it's a thick skinned colourful fruit that's very juicy inside, so they yelled out 'watermelon!'

We have planted seeds in the greenhouse: 5 kinds of tomato, yellow ones, cherry, stripy, big ones and prolific ones. Multicoloured capsicums, courgettes and sweetcorn. The broad beans we planted outside in autumn have come up but the peas died in the frost. We've just built new compost bins from recycled pallets which we have lined with cardboard that was being thrown away. We have yet to talk to the kitchens about saving peelings for the compost. Worms and compost next week and more seeds going in.

Myra Heller with Year 3 at Newington Green

Interesting session on 25th November with the children. It's as if they have finally 'got' the concept of the 'outdoor classroom'. Much to my surprise and delight, I find that they actually like spending at least half their sessions recording their observations in their books with drawings and writing, because I expected them to want to be physically active the whole time and to find it hard to note down (some of them find it very hard to focus) their observations and learning. We have been writing weather reports the last two sessions and for some of those who find it hard to write, I have been asking them just to think of four words that sum up the weather. They have all tried hard and are understanding the value of their own looking and deducting, which is, of course, the beginning of empirical scientific study and therefore very satisfying as a learning process. We were looking at evergreens and deciduous trees and shrubs as a follow-on from hibernation and dormancy. Year 3 looked at the new buds about to break through on the apple and plum trees that are going in the new mini orchard and they planted blackcurrant and raspberry bushes.

Pictures from the Harvest Celebration at Newington Green Primary School

Year 3s at Newington Green Primary School with Myra Heller

We did hibernation and photoperiodism (though I did NOT try to get them to remember that word!). In other words, thinking about winter and cold and shorter days. So they related the wearing of coats and warm clothes to animals getting thicker furs and fattening up for winter, e.g. their central heating and shelter being leaves and holes. We also looked at this with regard to plants and planted some bulbs, covering them up in soil over winter.

We also discussed a little about how some plants and seeds actually needed to get cold and then hot to know it's spring again and to grow. They also can read the daylight length which is fascinating but a little too complicated! All this will be repeated gradually when we see the evidence in Spring.

We have bought a small self fertilizing Cox's Orange Pippin and a damson tree to put in the little orchard next to the nursery. The children continue to fill their garden notebooks. I am delighted with our little shed, and we have made a little picket fence rather proudly out of recycled pallets and decking found on the premises.

Newington Green Primary School workshops at King Henry's Walk Garden

"It was really fun today - playing games and making insects."

"I like this, I've never done it before!" (while making insects out of conkers, seeds, sticks etc)

"Mine's called a Conqueror (or Conkerer!)" - on making an insect out of a conker

"My favourite bit was sucking up nectar like a bee with the squirty thing" (pipette).

"Can I come here with my Mum and Dad on Saturday?"

"Can I be a fox and chase rabbits? I got eaten coz I was grass last time," while playing food chain games.

"I can't choose, I like everything" - on being asked what the day's favourite activity had been.

Hanover School at Culpeper Garden

Our session was on food chains and the kids made some lovely mobiles. Kirstie Mogilner asked the kids what they liked about The Garden Classroom sessions at Culpeper Garden. Charlotte liked digging. Elesha liked sowing seeds and found the different sizes “really interesting”. Mohammed liked digging, holding insects, and gardening. He might become a gardener when he grows up so that he can “grow potatoes and make chips and carrots”. Otto is “sort of” eating more vegetables now that he is growing his own. Petra liked looking at the minibeasts everywhere. Rodja liked looking in the pond. When asked where he came in the food chain Tommy stated that humans were at the end and “were the most dangerous predator that there is”.