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About
the Little Green Fingers School's Project
The initiative was started in January 2008 with a Paper
to the Bailiwick’s Headteachers. Vale Infant School was the first to contact us and there are now 17 schools registered. It is our aim to have all
the Infant and Primary schools to be included and give as many children as possible the experience of gardening. In April 2008 the Council entered into a 3 year
sponsorship agreement with the Bedell Group and the initiative was named The Bedell Group Little green Fingers Schools’
Project. Their funding has enabled us to extend our activities and we now offer a variety of events throughout the year to
widen the children’s gardening skills and encourage healthy eating and environmental responsibilities. We hope that
everyone joins in and has fun. We are here to help can to offer advice and support through our Members, if required.
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| Vanessa helps with the planting |
St Martins Primary School Little Tree Project
Many hands made light work at
St Martin’s primary school in April of this year. Pupils, parents, grandparents and
teachers, with the assistance and support of Vanessa Crispini Adams of the Little Tree Project, have all been working to establish
and develop a woodland area within the school grounds. Throughout the process, children
have been given the opportunity to learn more about the trees they planted, which included Ash, Birch, Alder, Hazel, Crab Apple and edible apple
varieties.
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| The pupils learning more about their project |
The next stage of the
St Martin School project is to sow the tree planted area with a meadow of grasses and wildflowers. It will also benefit from
insect hotels, log piles, and bird boxes, with seating areas from which the workers can relax and enjoy all their hard work!On 21 May, St Martins Primary School
won the Insurance Corporation Conservation School’s Award (2010) for their ‘Little Tree Project’, and as
the pictures show, it is well deserved! Well done to all those involved.
Design a Garden Competition Winner
The Design a Garden Competition in conjunction with Bedell
Group and Funky Monkey Magazine asked school children to include all the things they would like
to see in their dream garden. The prize was for the winning garden to be built in real- life by the children with help from
Floral Guernsey, volunteers from The Bedell Group Guernsey and Jersey Offices, Teachers and any Mums and Dads who who would
like to join in.We are pleased to announce that the winner is Nairn Guilbert (Aged 10) from Beechwood Preparatory School
who was formally presented with acknowledgement of his prize by Kate Ovenden, partner of Bedell Group Guernsey office.
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| Winning garden design by Nairn Guilbert |
The judges were impressed with Nairn's beautifully coloured plan incorporating
a large number of exciting ideas. The school have chosen a corner of the playing field to become the new garden incorporating
Nairn's vision. It will be enclosed with a grassy bank and include a bog garden, a quiet reading corner, a brightly coloured
friendship bench and planting to encourage insects and birds. Nairn will also plant an apple tree to be enjoyed by current
and future pupils at the schoolWork will start on the garden in April with a view to completing for the summer. It will be
a real community effort and show other schools what can be achieved to give them the incentive to build one of their own.
In 2009, every school was given a large self-watering propagator/ mini-greenhouse with seeds,
fertilizer and compost ready to go. In April States Works ran workshops to demonstrate how to prick out the new seedlings
and also how to propagate plants. Tina Norman Ross, the State’s Re-cycling Officer visited schools to talk about
composting.
These events were tailored to help the children undertake The Challenge, announced by the BBC
gardener, Chris Collins, during his visit in October 2008. This was in the form of a Journal of photographs and stories
of their gardening activities or a computer Presentation to showcase their progress. Each school that entered was given a
prize and the overall winner was St Andrew's Primary School Grounds Club who had the opportunity to visit Government House Gardens and have
a tour of their vegetable garden with the head gardener, Garry le Poidevin. If your school is not registered or if you are interested in specific events, please contact Ann Wragg on 232654
/ a.hw@clara.co.uk or Sarah Brouard on floralguernsey@cwgsy.net
 Schools Enjoy Autumn Bulb Workshop
Island
primary schools have been learning about planting bulbs at the States Works Horticultural site. Phil
Merrien from the department engaged the children in a practical lesson where they got
their hands dirty and learnt about layering and planting bulbs and how other plants are grown and put in public places around
the island.
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