8th May 2026
HEADLINES
By James Saunders
CREATING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE A couple of months ago Mrs Bansropun recommended that I meet with learners from the school council to hear about their ideas for the school. After several lunchtime meetings with them and after consuming our fair share of muffins and cakes I thought it would be good to share with you all what they have been doing and the impact they will have on our school community. They have been working on a project about sustainability and approached me to ask if they could take over a space to create a garden space for wild flowers and veg. Skilfully led by Ivy and Ava (C10) this wonderful bunch of C7/C8 learners impressed with their enthusiasm and leadership plan. This week marks a milestone in their plans. They held a competition across cohorts to design the garden space. Each form was asked to submit a design which was then judged by the cohort leader and then submitted to me for the final judging. My involvement was the easy part. It was the learners who had a vision and saw it through. When we initially spoke about the competition the topic of a prize came up. Being someone who likes to think big I said that it would be great if we could go to the Chelsea Flower show. However, after some research I could not find any way to “cheaply” get a bunch of learners in and I lack the celebrity connections needed to get on the guestlist. So I looked more local, and we settled on a visit to the RHS Gardens in Hyde Hall. It’s often said that being married to a vegetarian pretty much makes you one. Well, as well as being married to a vegetarian I am also married to an obsessive gardener which has rubbed off on me over the years and has led to many RHS garden visits. Next week we will all be visiting the gardens for a day of inspiration and we will be joined by the two representatives from the winning learning group 8RWa.
What impressed me about the winning design was the thought that went into the seasons. The design clearly mapped out what time of year we should be growing different vegetables. We hope that once completed the garden will be able to supply our school kitchen with fresh produce in a sustainable way.