Unperturbed by the pouring rain, St Nicholas Primary School unveiled its new ‘Quiet Garden’ on Tuesday this week, with a speech from St Nicholas Headteacher, Nicola Smith, a blessing from Revd Jan Tate, and Tom Charlton of Charlton’s Timber Store cutting the ribbon. The garden will give pupils a chance to be quiet and reflect, and is all thanks to a dedicated band of teachers, parents, and local businesses working together to make the idea a reality.
A select group of students were invited into the Library for cakes, before a presentation took place, thanking the project’s sponsors.
A spokesperson for the school said: “The Quiet Garden Project came about because of a desire by the school to have an area within the grounds where pupils could go at break times to be quiet and reflective; a space slightly apart from the noisy and busy environment of the playground, a place where they could read, play board games or just relax.”
In early 2016, a small working party of parents, teachers and children met to discuss ideas and, led by parent, Ben Cross, came up with a plan for the project. The brief for the garden was to be fully inclusive and accessible to all, sympathetic to the school surroundings and, where possible, to use locally sourced, recycled and eco-friendly materials.
The school also wanted to include a sensory element to the garden with varied, scented planting in the flower beds, and visually-stimulating and tactile panels incorporated into a gabion fence.
The St Nicholas Fundraisers contributed £1,500 to the scheme, and contacted local businesses to ask whether anyone would be willing to support the project with free contributions or discounted products.
Under Ben’s guidance, work began in June, and continued for over a year. A dedicated team of staff and families volunteered their time on several working weekends, constructing the flower beds and fences, and installing the plants.
The school then asked the children from each of the nine classes to create a design for their own class panel to be incorporated into the gabion fence. Ben worked with each class throughout the 2017 summer term to convert their ideas into a physical reality. The school Eco-Committee were also asked to come up with a design idea, which was included on the school boundary chain link fence.
The project took longer than anticipated, but, throughout its construction, it was a point of interest for the children at playtime, as they saw the space slowly change and develop and, now that the garden is complete, the childen feel an important sense of ownership – as they were all involved in its creation.
The school and Fundraisers would like to thank the following companies for very kindly supporting the project: Charlton’s Timber Store (who donated a lot of wood and discounted the rest), Dobbies Garden Centres Ltd (for donating all of the plants), Jewson Ltd, Buildbase Building and Timber Supplies, John Mason and Sons, Penny Plant Hire and Demolition Ltd, Avon Steel Company Ltd, and Linden Homes.
The ‘Quiet Garden’ project also attracted the attention of the Royal Horticultural Society and South West in Bloom, winning St Nicholas’ School a Level 5: Outstanding ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood’ award.