Oak Wood School goes Green

Oak Wood School in Hillingdon decided to become more eco-friendly with funding from the Jack Petchey Foundation. They were awarded £750 for a gardening project from the Leader Award Grants Fund.

The school has named the project ‘The Gardening Club’ and hold it every Monday after school. It involves growing fruits and vegetables as well as other plants, giving the young people practical experience of the seed-to-flower process that they learn about in lessons. Staff say it has made a great difference for pupils to join in with the activities, with some even getting their parents and grandparents involved with growing plants at home. The group also held a free raffle to support their plastic bottle greenhouse project – for every two-litre plastic bottle students brought in with the label off, a raffle ticket was given out.

This project showed the students how to reuse everyday materials, otherwise known as upcycling. Did you know it takes 450 years for a single plastic bottle to decompose?

30 children are currently involved in The Gardening Club and it has created a lot of interest in the school. They even look after the plants during their lunchtimes, and have entered a competition in Hillingdon to produce a plant display using a pair of jeans. The SEN group is now planning lessons around the garden, and the Science department is getting involved too.

Their Head Teacher is thrilled with the Foundation’s support and supported the project as well, allowing the school to have a non-uniform charity day.

According to the Campaign to Protect Rural England, fewer than one in 10 children now play outside in wild spaces, and another study found that children were better at identifying Pokémon characters that what used to be well known British species such as bluebells and badgers. Let’s try and get more young people experiencing nature together!

Fancy getting outside and upcycling plastic bottles at your youth organisation? Here are some ideas: