AGENDA
‘This year we won’t have to buy any veg for lessons’
O
ur school allotment was a jungle at first. At 5ft tall, I could walk in and disappear completely.
It all began when one of our
breakfast volunteers suggested that having an allotment would be great for the school. Soon after, a plot became available just over the road. We pay an annual fee from PTA funds and we bought a shed, but we got nearly everything else for free through social media shout-outs, including materials for our fence made from pallets. We even got the paint from a recycling centre; it only cost us £11 to paint the whole space. There was a time when I thought
the project would never be finished. The allotment has been a labour of love that has taken about five years to get to opening day. As well as heading up the PTA, I work all week as a dinner lady at the school. So Saturdays and school holidays were the only times my deputy Allison and I could work on it. Our main challenge was to fence
off the area so the children would be safe. Since we were working to a budget and using pallets for fencing, we needed to find 40 metres of the smaller, lighter pallets. Sometimes, we would get three pallets, which we would install straight away, but then we might not get any more for four or five months. Now it looks lovely! Allison’s dad,
who is 90 years old, made lots of new signs and our teaching assistant Laura wrote the names of the
vegetables on them in her beautiful handwriting. The children have been busy planting, and our eco team harvested a crop of onions, which the older children used to make a sauce in their lessons. On our allotment last year, we had
potatoes, garlic and a herb garden. Pupils from Year 2 planted broad beans, which grew really well. We also had strawberries, beetroot, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, broccoli and carrots. Children in Year 1 enjoyed cutting and tasting the fruits, and they got to pick their own produce while learning about the whole growing process. We were delighted to have added an apple tree, pear tree and plum tree, and someone has just donated a cherry tree. This year we won’t have to buy
any vegetables for lessons. The children will be able to go over and dig them up on the allotment. It may have taken a while, but all the hard work has definitely been worth it. Tracey Jones, chair, Mersey Park Primary School Association, Wirral, Merseyside (449 pupils)
Children in Year 1 got to pick their own produce while
learning about the growing process
Green Party councillor Pat Cleary opens the school’s allotment
School Fundraising SPRING 2025 13
AS TOLD TO SARAH LOTHIAN
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