What are our plans?

At Kings Somborne Primary School in Hampshire we are in the process of transforming the largely unused outdoor garden area into a multifunctional space for outdoor learning.

We aim to create a legacy for our future children by designing a space that will support children’s development now and in years to come.

Alongside the development of the physical space, we will be building an online learning hub which will grow with the garden, providing a resource not only for the children of our school, but for other schools, organisations and individuals, providing a library of planting plans, fact sheets, activities and projects relevant to all subjects covered in the schools curriculum and beyond, presented as downloadable PDF's and video tutorials. 

Engaging our children in Green Futures Club and immersing them in environmental care will significantly contribute to nurturing a vibrant,healthy community,thereby mitigating the effects of climate change. 

Through practical involvement, they will adopt eco-friendly habits such as composting and enhancing biodiversity—practices vital for building climate resilience. Up-cycling projects and harvesting rainwater serve as tangible methods to instil sustainable behaviours. 

We will measure the impact of our project through participation surveys, activity logs, well-being assessments, community feedback, and biodiversity tracking. With the data, we can evaluate our project's effectiveness in promoting environmental stewardship and community health, making meaningful contributions to climate action.

Why are we doing this?

• Mental wellbeing - To provide a calm and welcoming space for reflection and to nurture mental wellbeing and self confidence. 
• Physical wellbeing - To encourage an active lifestyle through learning new skills.
• Education - To create a fun and exciting environment from which outdoor learning can take place throughout the year.
• Community - To strengthen our community values and reduce social isolation.
• Sustainability - To actively teach a nature-positive approach to the natural environment rather than simply slowing the decline of biodiversity.
• Responsibility - To nurture a sense of pride in our future generations for caring for our natural environment.

Your support will help us to:

• Buy a poly tunnel, enabling us to extend outdoor learning throughout the year.
• Buy the equipment and tools needed to support full classes of children.
• Buy the plants needed to create habitat for wildlife.
• Create a space from which we can produce comprehensive learning resources.

How are we going to do this, and what has been achieved so far?

We are approaching this project in several stages. Thanks to generous funding from Kings Somborne Parish Council, the Kings Somborne School Association and the school, phase one of this project started at the beginning of February. 

A covered wooden gazebo has been installed, along with a large water tank to gather rain water from the roof, and two new large raised beds have been built. Repairs are being made to preserve the large and well established ponds, and repairs have been made to the tarmac around the raised beds to make the space safer.

Image: Phase one of our project

A huge thank you to Infinity Playgrounds is in order for working with us so eloquently and patiently to ensure we got as much of the work done as possible within our budget.

This project is being run by volunteers, currently led by me, Ellie Fisher, a parent at the school, with a background in craft course creation and sustainable textiles. I will continue to run gardening club, be building the online learning hub and populating it with resources.

I have had a vast amount of support from Katie Dynes, a parent and teacher at the school, and my gardening club fellow volunteer.

My dad, Nick Gosse, has also volunteered a large amount of time, running workshops, clearing the ponds of the invasive irises, and providing fact sheets on the wildlife we have in the garden. He has broad experience and knowledge of conservation work, the natural world and history, so we're hoping he'll come back this year!

Image: Nick getting stuck into the ponds

Gardening club was started mid way through the spring term of 2024 and has been at maximum capacity since we started.

We have learned so much from the activities we’ve run so far in regards to what we need to be growing to maximise on the range of learning and related activities we can offer.

Seeing the response first hand from the children attending gardening club has given us a good insight into their enthusiasm for different areas, and how we can expand on this moving forwards to accommodate the broadest range of interests.

Last year we:

• Grew plants for food, natural dyeing and crafts.
• Cared for the ponds and learnt about the lifecycle of dragonflies.
• Learnt about the importance of bees and had a candle making workshop.
• Learnt about the origins of farming.
• Harvested flowers for various crafting activities including flower pounding and pressing.
• Learnt how to harvest and store seeds to be used the following year.

This year we'll be:

• Preparing, propagating, planting, nurturing and harvesting our eight raised beds.
• Growing our own flax to make into twine and yarn.
• Running a stall at the school fete, selling plants grown from last years seeds.
• Making kinetic scarecrows to keep our plants safe...ish!
• Learning about composting and soil health.
• Looking at watering systems that use as little water as possible and making our own.
• Adding all successful projects to the online learning hub.

When did this project start?

The seeds of this project were sown in April 2023 when, along with my pick axe wielding, expert gardener mother in law, Pam Fisher, we had a family effort to replace the disintegrating sleepers around the raised beds. Pam passed away just a few months later, but her legacy lives on in this project. We continue to use the notes she made on planting plans, and many of the seeds sown last year came from her garden. She would be so happy to see this space develop.

Image: Pam in her element

Over the course of the following year it became apparent that to make the garden truly functional for accommodating classes of children, far more organisation needed to be put in place, and so gardening club was born.

Why does our project matter? 

With the mounting body of research into the incredibly positive effect that access to outdoor learning has on mental health, physical health, and academic performance, we feel that it is important to make the most of the amazing space that the school has to offer, to benefit the children of Kings Somborne Primary School, others looking to do something similar, and anyone interested in the wealth of educational and creative activities stemming from a garden.

Image: Prize draw - Handwoven scarves 

* T's & C's

• All physical and digital rewards will be sent out at the end of March 2025. If you have any queries relating to this, please get in touch with Ellie - [email protected]
• None of these rewards can be exchanged for alternative products or monetary value.
• Prize draw - Private weaving workshop: This workshop must take place on a weekday between 10am - 4pm and must be booked to take place on or before July 4th 2025. It is for a maximum of three people. Choose between frame (tapestry weaving), inkle (band weaving) or off-loom (sticks and stones) weaving.
• Prize draw - Annual workshop pass: This pass will automatically enrol you on our self-paced online weaving and natural dyeing courses, and will allow you to book onto one of each of our in-person workshops for an entire year starting on the 31st March 2025. If you cannot attend a workshop, you are welcome to send someone in your place, however any cancellations are strictly non-transferrable.