Gransden and District Agricultural Society Show

Gransden and District Agricultural Society Grants

A GDAS grant has helped Bassingbourn Community Primary School involve some of their pupils in horticultural activities. This is what one of their teachers has written to us:

"We unfortunately got off to a very slow start due to Covid, but when it was finally safe for me to be back in school face to face, I began to get the children involved in the project. Obviously having to stay in class bubbles has meant that this year I have only been able to work with my class of Year 4 pupils, but they have all really enjoyed the experience. It inspired one of the boys in the class so much, that he put the class forward to do the ‘Blue Peter’ environmental challenge and each child in the class has been awarded a ‘green’ Blue Peter badge.

We started the garden in the same area as the old school garden used to be, but it became obvious that trekking over to the other side of the school was an issue, so we took over the area outside our classroom. Fortunately, nature had taken over and with a little bit of careful weeding, we have now created a wonderful wildlife area.

The children have grown tomatoes, an Aubergine, some cabbages, many Sunflowers and they have also planted some other plants donated to the school. One of the teachers bought a tiny bird bath and next year we are planning to add a fairy garden. We will also be planting more herbs to build a sensory element to the area. The children have tried the garlic chives and are hoping that some of our tomatoes will be ripe before they finish school for the holidays. We also have a bird box ready to be installed over the summer holidays and hopefully the bird feeders in the garden will encourage some birds to nest.

The whole experience has encouraged lots of discussions about food, the childrens own family gardens and allotments and what they regard as healthy food etc. I have attached some pictures of the areas we have been working on for you to see their efforts.

Thank you once again for the very kind donation that allowed us to begin this project. We still have a little of the money left which we will be using to purchase a compost bin to enable us to make our own compost going forward.

Many thanks and best wishes from

Elaine Douglass and Year 4 Penguin class

Bassingbourn Community Primary School"