Member Article

Sowing the seeds of working with nature

Students at a Sheffield school have been given the chance to find out how green their fingers are with the launch of a new horticulture project.

Youngsters at Chaucer School in Parson Cross have grown a variety of flowers, now adorning the school in hanging baskets and are also producing a range of vegetables.

The blooms and greens will be on sale at the school’s summer fayre, to be staged Friday 14 July, to raise funds for the school.

And the experience the students receive from for completing the course could open doors to further training and potentially a career in horticulture.

Said Steve Middleton, Facilities Manager at the school: “We currently have ten students involved and they work in pairs, under supervision, on every aspect of preparation, sowing and planting and caring for the flowers and vegetables. It provides them with real hands on experience of how rewarding gardening can be.”

Ciaran Ogden, 14, from Parson Cross, added: “I have really enjoyed the project because every day you can see the results of your work, as the plants grow and flower. I never imagined it could be so rewarding.”

The initiative is being supported by Sheffield Housing Company (SHC), which funded a professional standard polytunnel to enable the students to benefit from an early growing season.

The company has already supported the creation of a construction skills centre and a hair and beauty salon at the school. All these initiatives are designed to engage students in activities which could directly lead to further training and work and Head Teacher, Scott Burnside says the activities have also encouraged students to focussed students on the progress of more traditional lessons and in terms of behaviour and attendance.

SHC is a joint venture between the city council, developer Keepmoat and landlord Great Places. It will build 2,300 new properties for sale, shared ownership and rent, over a period of 15 years.

To date SHC has built over 350 family homes across the city. It is currently developing on five sites, which will deliver a further 478 homes and has submitted planning applications for a further 333 homes, to be started later in the year.

John Clephan, Project Director with SHC, said: “We are building more homes in Sheffield this year than ever before. As we expand our operations across the city, there are more opportunities to forge long-lasting partnerships in the neighbourhoods in which we are building.

“Investing locally is one of our core values and supporting the career aspirations of Sheffield’s students is important to us. It is a pleasure to work with ambitious schools like Chaucer on excellent projects such as this, where the pupils will expand their knowledge of possible careers and learn new skills.”

Picture caption: Hadyn Allen (centre), who works with the students on Chaucer School’s horticulture project, with Blaide Pearce (left) and Ciaran Ogden.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Paul Dobbie .