Stewart Garden, the gardening division of UK manufacturer Stewart Group Holdings, has named Bradley Barton Primary School of Newton Abbot the winner of the Stewart Garden Schools Campaign 2014. The Devon school collected the first prize of £1,100 for its Wizard of Oz inspired garden.
The pupils at Bradley Barton Primary School created an outdoor world based on the popular musical, complete with scarecrows, floral rainbows and woodland made of peas. They also created a wormery to break down old leaves for garden compost.
As part of Bradley Barton Primary School’s curriculum, students spend two hours in the garden every week.
The Stewart Garden Schools campaign challenges schools to show creativity and inspiration using Stewart Garden kits. Other entrants in this year’s campaign studied growing seeds and explored the differences between electric and non-electric propagators.
BBC Gardeners’ Question Time panellist and judge for the campaign Pippa Greenwood said: “We were impressed with all the entries; however Bradley Barton’s was especially striking. The whole process linked in with other areas of the school’s teaching and National Curriculum. This made learning fun, valuable and memorable.”
In total, 100 schools across the UK, from the Isle of Wight to Stirling, participated in the campaign. The aim of the competition, which was launched in 2012, is to encourage pupils to get involved in grow your own.
Participating schools received a garden kit worth over £400. Inside the kits were three varieties of easy-grow vegetable seeds from Pippa Greenwood’s own range. Compost was donated by participating garden centres and professional grower’s specialist, J Arthur Bowers. Pupils received a booklet produced by Stewart Garden. Also supporting the Stewart Garden Schools Campaign 2014 was the global electronics company, Brother, who supplied its GL200 garden label printer.
The nine runners up, who received £500 each, with £100 of each prize donated by J Arthur Bowers, are:
Aqueduct Primary School, Telford
Cherry Tree Primary School, Lymm
Great Arley School, Thornton Cleveleys
Hook Lane Primary School, Welling
Long Sutton County Primary School, Long Sutton
Lough View Integrated Primary School, Belfast
Stourport Primary School, Stourport-on-Severn
Westonzoyland Community Primary School, Bridgwater
Wilden All Saints CofE Primary School, Stourport-on-Severn
