Good Practice Case Study

Therfield First Primary School

School No: 70

Improving our Environment : Our Garden Project
Press Release Report

Class 2’s Garden Project with ‘More than a little help from their FRIENDS’!!!

Tackling this ambitious job had been on the ‘School Improvement Plan’ for some years and the ‘Friends of Therfield School’ had made it a priority for this summer.

The local Therfield Thespians generously gave the ’Friends’ £700 from their successful production of ‘The Wind in the Willows’, and it was decided that this would be spent on the project.

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We listed all the jobs to be tackled.  Weeding, cutting back all the ivy, removing a sycamore tree that was growing out of the beautiful old flint wall,  sorting out the flint that was scattered around the garden to repair the wall and getting rid of all the rubbish.  We also realised that we should save all the bulbs that were in the ground to be re-planted in the autumn.  Then there was sanding and removing all the varnish from an old bench and cleaning and sanding an old bird table and various nesting boxes and feeders that were hidden in the ivy.

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We had to decide on a colour scheme for painting all the existing trellis, bench and other wood.  The decision was finally made to have Topiary Green, Sea Grass and Country Cream.  These were subtle colours which would make a good background for the bright coloured chairs and parasols which had already been bought by the ‘Friends’.

The children also wanted to design some wooden flowers and mini-beasts to be cut out, painted and mounted on the trellis and the back of a shed that overlooks the garden. One of the class immediately volunteered his mum and her partner to help with this job, in the shape of cutting out the chipboard designs with a jig-saw!  They did this willingly and the children got busy with the designs.  It was decided to use our school emblem, the Pasque flower as a main feature. 

Thus in the most glorious summer for the years, the children, and their teacher worked solidly on this project for three and a half weeks. 

One of the other issues that was of vital importance to the whole project was WATER! 

So our project has been achieved and we are all thrilled and excited.  As a teacher, it has been a most rewarding experience and, hopefully, one the children will remember for the rest of their lives!

To find out more download the full report:

• Therfield First Report (Word03/27kb)