Working with our fantastic community gardener, Mrs Hiley, our children and families and the wider Sheffield community we have transformed our outdoor growing space, creating opportunities and growing delicious produce.
We are always looking to invite new volunteers to support us in developing our green spaces. If you would like to get involved, please contact Georgie Mitchell at georgiemitchell@arbourthorne.sheffield.sch.uk
We have so many exciting opportunities that take our families outdoors such as: planting, weeding, harvesting, learning and skill sharing. We love using our fire pit and we have a fantastic outdoor classroom for all our learning needs.
September 2023 saw our first Horticultural Show where families of the school were invited to a fun filled extravaganza filled with alpacas, llamas, bouncy castles, sweet treats, fresh produce that was grown by our families, external green-fingered organisations and more to celebrate the return to school and promote positive mental health and wellbeing.
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“I used the curly kale that I picked today in my sons tea”
“I am looking forward to trying the chard as we have never had it before! I picked fresh chard, sprouts, rhubarb and kale all from Red Robin House Garden”
Our Growing Space
We are all very proud of our Growing Space and everything that grows there. We concentrate on growing food for families to take away and for us to use in our Family Feast get togethers. We have grown all sorts including herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, courgettes, beans and artichokes. This year we also had great success with growing melons.
The garden is a space where children and their families come to help, to learn, to feel calm and be purposeful.
Life Skills Red Robin House
Gardening is an integral part of our Life Skills curriculum where all children have regular sessions in the garden completing any jobs that need doing that day. This could be sowing seeds, planting out, weeding, watering, designing - the list goes on.
Curriculum links
There are lots of opportunities for learning in the Growing Space. We have lots of opportunity to take the children outside in different areas of the curriculum in order to bring classroom learning to life. This includes science, geography, art, English, mathematics and PSHCE.
Our beautiful fox sculpture in the garden, created by Patrick Amber, was the inspiration to start growing our own willow to use as a sustainable resource in our Maker Curriculum.
Horticultural Show
We have a very successful return to school event every year where the children can bring anything they have been growing over the Summer. It is a joyous day where everyone can take part in garden related games and win prizes for their efforts in growing.
We were joined this year by Radio Sheffield and they had a wonderful time sharing the love of gardening. Here is a link to the show and we are on the show about halfway through.
Volunteers
We have an amazing group of parent volunteers who are essential to the success of our Growing Space. They regularly turn up, whatever the weather, to see what jobs need doing and making sure they happen. The garden would not be so productive without them. They have fedback about how much they love being in the garden and the joy it gives to be included in making it flourish.
If you are interested in joining our amazing team of volunteers, please get in touch with the school office who will pass your details onto Angela Hiley - Gardening Teacher
We are also proud, and very grateful, to welcome external volunteers who usually return because of the positive experience they have in our garden. This includes groups from Hayes Recruitment, Department for Education, O2 and Santander. We are also regularly joined by Good Gym who run up the hill from town, complete a job that requires some muscle, and then run back down the hill again.
Sustainability
We are always looking for ways to increase our sustainability in the garden. This includes creating our own compost, harvesting water, saving seeds, growing willow and importantly growing our own food to share.
Future Plans
We are always looking for ways to increase the opportunities for learning in our Growing Space. Future plans include increasing bio-diversity, harvesting more water and planting more trees for future shade.
