I went to Llangattock Church in Wales School as a child and ironically returned years later to maintain the school grounds. So it was a pleasure to go back and to see the changes that have been made more recently.
Having been allocated a grant from Llangattock Community Education Trust, the Children’s School Council (consisting of 11 pupils aged between 6 and 11) were consulted and it was decided unanimously that the funds should be spent on improving the School grounds. Acting Head, Hayley Smith explained, “We wanted to enhance children’s play within the natural environment and any improvements had to blend with the surroundings. We have created the facilities for imaginative play which also includes the children being able to take a few risks as they tackle the balancing beam, the zip wire and the climbing walls” (..... all of which are situated over deep spongy safety bark!) “As well as these play areas, the school grounds now boasts an outdoor amphitheatre, full disabled access, a Celtic Knot Garden and maze , vegetable beds, (pupils harvested the veg last year and made cawl), herb gardens that supply the school kitchen, compost bins, and a substantial Pond and conservation area.”
Incredibly all the improvements were carried out by parents, friends and local businesses. The pupils also had an enormous input into the development of their outdoor space and subsequently formed an ‘eco-club’. Pupils Michael and Adam even created the school’s own Eco–Code.
The pupils have also created their own school rules, referred to as ‘Give Me 5’. The five key points are, RESPECT – everyone everything, everywhere; UNDERSTAND our differences; LISTEN to adults and each other; ENVIRONMENT- take care of it; SHARE with others not just friends. Hayley explained, “The first letter of each point spells out ‘RULES’ and was totally devised by the children. The fact that we have Respect and Environment in there, shows how important these things are to the pupils. We are already at the silver award stage of the Eco-Schools programme and are aiming to have Green Flag status by the end of the year.”
Before I left, I spoke School Council and learnt just how important outdoor play, Nature and taking care of the environment was to them. Harry told me ‘My Dad works for the Environmental Agency. We recycle everything and grow all our own vegetables. They taste much better than the ones from the shops.” Recycling was considered to be one of the most important issues and a big cause of frustration. Zoe was annoyed that her older sister wouldn’t recycle. Ryan pointed out that his family were still waiting for their recycling bins to be delivered and added “We should recycle wherever we are as well, not just at home or in school.” Emily added, “We always reuse our plastic bags and cardboard boxes and recycle what we can’t reuse.”
Jos was disappointed that it’s nearly March and we haven’t had any snow – “that’s because of Global Warming “he added. Holly enjoyed creating jumps in her garden for her dog and also made sure her friends didn’t tread on worms and Lloyd said, “After watching Life on Earth on TV I had to remind my sister to be nice to animals.”
For me probably the most poignant thing that was raised was the ‘sanctuary’ element that a garden can provide. Without exception every pupil had a ‘secret space’ or ‘den’ that was very precious to them. Carian told me, “I go to my den when I feel grumpy and I go and calm down. And it’s a safe place for me and my friends to tell secrets.” Josquin uses his den to hide things that are private and Georgie said, “I’ve got a camouflage shed and my rabbit and painting easel are in there. I go there whenever my brothers annoy me.” But perhaps Ryan summed it up best when he said, “I love the zip slide and all the play equipment but if I don’t feel like running around and playing it’s also really good to just sit and relax and just to be quiet.”
