Warlingham Village School parents get their hands dirty on schoolgardening project

Parents at Warlingham Village School have shown that they are willing to dig deep for the benefit of their children after providing voluntary labour and funds for the Key Stage 1 garden area at the school.

Reception teacher Mrs Swallow proposed the idea of a garden to be maintained by the children, and the PTA got the funding drive under way by organising a cake sale amongst Reception and Year One pupils, which raised £185. After that initial success, they began to think about how they could bring the cost down by making some of the items themselves – and that was when community spirit took over.

“One of the dads, James Poole, is a carpenter,” said PTA member Mandy Lavine, “so he made three square planters on casters, which is similar to what was originally proposed, but done for free – and the cost of the materials was more than covered by the money we made from the cake sale. Now that’s done, the plan is for the children to decorate the
bare wood with hand prints, to put their mark on their garden, literally.”

With the hard graft having been put in during the winter, next term the PTA hopes to see that effort come into bloom. “There’s already an outing planned to a local garden centre, for the children to learn about the plants,” added Mandy. “I’ve suggested to the school that we might see if we can get them to donate something. Fingers crossed the children might come back from that trip with more than just memories of what the plants look like, and then they can enjoy that in the garden that together we and they have helped create.”