Author Topic: school allotment advise  (Read 2914 times)

Nora42

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school allotment advise
« on: October 15, 2014, 14:22:18 »
Hello - does anyone on this forum have any experience of having a school allotment on their site or being involved in a school allotment?
I am very keen for a school to have one just so they can grown pumpkins and squashes initially and then hopefully it will blossom into other things in a few years time.
the school has a raised bed area which is brilliant for some produce that struggle in the open ground.
what are the downfalls or danger areas?
Where we live the allotments are 5 mins walk from the school gates and I really think that they should take advantage of this fact.
we have no waiting list and one ideal plot close to the entrance of the site.
 we have public liability insurance too.

thanks Nora
Norf London

Tee Gee

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Re: school allotment advise
« Reply #1 on: October 15, 2014, 15:54:20 »
Quote
does anyone on this forum have any experience of having a school allotment on their site or being involved in a school allotment?

Not as such but I do recall one summer holidays when a minibus full of children came to visit our allotments as an 'out of school' project and as I was the only one on the plots that day I got the job of entertaining them.

It was lovely to see the looks of amazement when I dug a few potatoes out of the soil and more so when I showed them a Beetroot, most of them had never seen one let alone where it came from or how it was grown.

At that time I grew Dahlias so each one of the kids went home with a Dahlia of their choosing.

I have a picture somewhere where the teacher/helper took a picture of me surrounded by the kids in my Dahlia patch.

Apparently as another Out of School project they made a calendar with that picture and sent a copy to me.

Perhaps you could consider asking the other plot holders if they would be interested in showing/teaching the kids about flower and veg growing on say a 'once a week' visit, as an alternative to owning a plot yourselves.

What is in the back of my mind with the latter suggestion is 'school holidays' and the kids moving on from class to class and school to school.

Who looks after the plot then?

Alternatively you could perhaps have an arrangement with a plot holder to share the plot you are after meaning that there would be cover for the summer holidays.

Which ever way you go I wish you the best of luck!

If needs be you could refer to my website (see my signature) to read the text and look at the pictures in class before going onto the plots so that the children know a little about what to expect!...Tg


Borlotti

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Re: school allotment advise
« Reply #2 on: October 15, 2014, 15:58:40 »
One of the allotments on our site is owned by the school.  I speak to the school caretaker and he seems to do all the work but not allowed when he has other duties.  Classes of children come with their teacher sometimes.  I don't know if the parents were asked to help but it did get very overgrown at one time, so you need to consider who is going to do the work.  Seems a good idea but maybe better to just let the children visit the allotments, as it is a lot of work to keep one in good order, so you need volunteers.

Digeroo

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Re: school allotment advise
« Reply #3 on: October 15, 2014, 17:35:57 »
Have you seen the RHS site about school gardening

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/schoolgardening/teachershome/casestudies/schoolsgardenplans/default.aspa

What age group are you thinking about?  Filling it will pumpkins and squashes should keep down the weeds.  Summer squash needs picking regularly.

Melbourne12

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Re: school allotment advise
« Reply #4 on: October 15, 2014, 18:06:03 »
We have a school allotment on our site, and when my wife was teaching she ran a school allotment.

There are difficulties, mainly around the holidays.  First, plans need to be made to keep the allotment maintained during the hols. That can be a school groundsman, or a group of parents, or willing allotment holders.

Second, the planting and development timetable needs to be carefully considered, otherwise the children don't see the result of their labours because too many things are ready for harvest during July and August, and they miss them.

It's ideal if the allotment year can be different from the school year.  So Year 3 children should start their allotmenteering year in the Spring Term, continue through the Summer term, and finish it at the end of the Year 4 Autumn term (or at half term).  That way they see the full lifecycle.  But that doesn't necessarily fit in well with curriculum planning.

There also needs to be a commitment from teachers to take the matter seriously.  Some of our local teachers clearly don't think it's their job nor that of the children to pull up weeds, or tidy up after themselves, or to do anything other than plant, observe, and harvest.  So sometimes the school plot looks very unkempt indeed.  It certainly wouldn't have attracted me as a child.  Personally I think this sort of casual neglect does more harm than good.

BarriedaleNick

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Re: school allotment advise
« Reply #5 on: October 15, 2014, 18:07:40 »
We have run a little scheme at our school with a few raised beds. Just a few pupils - half a dozen maybe.
The main difficulty is that a lot of the interesting stuff happens in the school hols over Summer, and with regular breaks it is hard to maintain continuity. 

To be honest it sort of fizzled out but we are looking at doing it again with just a four current pupils who have expressed an interest - I think it needs someone to coordinate times of work.  While they were all interested in the produce they couldn't afford to spend a lot of time doing the routine tasks and school life - trips, exams and coursework all got in the way.  It is doable but needs some forethought.
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bluecar

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Re: school allotment advise
« Reply #6 on: October 15, 2014, 18:39:22 »
Hello Nora42.

Whilst the idea is good, there are many aspects to consider many of which have already been raised. If you are 5 minutes away, then that is 10 minutes each way plus getting ready to go and when they get back - this probably means 20 minutes or so already out of their time on the allotment. As they are on a visit it will require a number of volunteers each week to ensure the adult/school child ratio is sufficient. Who is going to plan their activities each week and ensure they record it for their school record?

I think the idea is good, but to succeed it will need a lot of planning and work in partnership with the school. TeeGee has mentioned school visits and this may be a more productive relationship.

I'm sorry to sound so negative, as you obviously feel so positive about it.

Regards

Bluecar

Nora42

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Re: school allotment advise
« Reply #7 on: October 15, 2014, 19:45:51 »
Hi , thanks everybody for taking the time to reply I don't think any of you are being negative or trying to put me off I just wanted to air these thoughts with people who have experience and bingo I knew a few of you might.
I am aware that it seems like a big commitment but our contracts run for 1 year so I have explained that if they hate it and can see no merit then there will be no pressure to keep it up.
I was naughty today and took a sunflower head in to show them its massive about 35cm diameter and they were all amazed and of course want to grow some - I keep explaining that big pumpkins and squashes need to go in the ground as do giant sunflowers.
the Head is trying to encourage as much of the curriculum as she can to be taught in the vegetable garden and the nature garden and this in theory is working.
I work in both the veg garden and the nature one and the allotment is on the same site as mine, next door to it and is not that big in allotment terms it's about 100 sqm. it has a well established gooseberry bush and red currants along one side and I have tried to explain to the head that if they want to grow pumpkins and squashes then that can't be done in a pot so it would be rent + manure costs. the school age ranges from 7 - 11 so yes some would miss what we have grown but everybody likes the idea of having home grown pumpkins for the Harvest assembly. I am also sure I can get the support of our Hort soc the chairman also has an allotment on the same site.
l will keep you posted as to what happens .

thanks Nora
Norf London

Mortality

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Re: school allotment advise
« Reply #8 on: October 16, 2014, 09:32:03 »
I would like to see all schools have an Allotment for the kids, so that they don't just think food comes from the supermarkets.

I only got my allotment this year and grew unusual things to show my kids and friends that all veg isn't like it is at the super market, purple carrots, red carrots, painted mountain corn, bi coloured sweetcorn, purple seeded broad beans, purple and yellow podded peas...Then there are purple potatoes, a huge variety of squash, red sweetcorn the list goes on.

 (Then again supermarkets arn't all bad I remember Waitrose selling red bananas and Tescos selling multi coloured organic tomatoes...which I saved seeds from  :tongue3: )

My friend asked to take some of my dried painted mountain cobs to show her scout group and she has now taken some of the seeds so they can grow some for next year.

My kids had never seen Gooseberries until they went with me to the allotment, where as I used to eat them all the time as a kid.
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ACE

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Re: school allotment advise
« Reply #9 on: October 20, 2014, 22:08:31 »
They have a plot on the site I am on. I steer well clear of it as I don't want to get roped in. But the teachers come up with different classes and seem to keep it reasonably maintained during term time. I have heard it gets a bit overgrown in the holidays. Some plot owners give them plants etc and they have built an insect hotel, wether this gives them an interest I don't know,  but they must pick up a bit of knowledge.

Digeroo

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Re: school allotment advise
« Reply #10 on: October 21, 2014, 08:25:11 »
Garden Organic also have quite a lot of resources for schools.  They have some nice growing cards and quite a few projects.

http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/education

aj

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Re: school allotment advise
« Reply #11 on: October 21, 2014, 09:09:58 »
HI Nora.

I worked on in around 20 schools doing horticultural therapy and the main issues we found over and again were:
Not linking it to the curriculum, meant that it was dropped in favour of other stuff just as the busy season started.
Not having the head and senior staff fully behind it, meant that it was dropped in favour of other stuff just as the busy season started.
Staff not being gardeners and without proper training, meant that as it got busy they were a little overwhelmed [and again, dropped it in favour...well - you get the picture].
Doing it in isolation from the cooks meant that their food was not included in the school food - which is basically the aim of food growing. Some took food home but because parents/carers didn't know how to cook it, it got thrown out. All the time. So I had to be creative in what to grow and when.
I run a full day's training in school food growing, and so there is alot to go through and I can't put it all on here but the busiest season is the one where all the teachers are panicking about exams/results/trips out blah blah blah and then it's 6 weeks away when things need harvesting so unless it is well planned and supported it tends to fall flat each year.
One bonus is that you can plant pumpkins in June and come back to some fantastic crops if there is someone looking after the plot over the summer. Until the vandals come and kick the pumpkins to pieces that is. Been there - and cried over that.

 

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