Let Children Grow - the IoS schools gardening campaign

Get your school to join our campaign by starting a blog on Independent Minds and keep a journal of your gardening endeavours

Want to create a garden at your school?

Teachers: All you need is a window box to grow herbs. For a small vegetable plot, it is easy to build a raised bed using old railway sleepers or planks. Or, if you can, devote a plot of land on school grounds to create an allotment.

Parents: Tell your child’s school about our campaign to get it interested.

Children: Tell your parents and teachers you want to grow!

For advice and to register for free seeds, go to www.rhs.org.uk/schoolgardening

By signing up to the RHS Campaign for School Gardening, you will receive back-up support from the leading garden charity's education team, including a national programme of teacher training. You will be sent a free starter pack containing seeds, a growing calendar, top gardening tips sheet and more. By registering schools also gain online access to many free resources including lesson plans and information sheets.

Each school is encouraged to progress through the RHS’s benchmarking scheme, from planning a school garden (level 1) through to having a fully productive garden that is used to teach the curriculum, and is shared with the wider community (level 5). Evidence shows that gardening inspires learning and can enrich the curriculum, improve academic achievement, teach valuable life skills and contribute to the mental and physical health of all children.

Already gardening at school? Tell us about your efforts by creating your own blog. You can upload pictures throughout the year. If you need further help, click on 'More Pictures' above to see our step by step guide to setting up your school's blog.

And you can follow our Let Children Grow beacon school, Kingsway Primary in Goole at http://kingswayprimary.livejournal.com/

The RHS Campaign for School Gardening, sponsored by Waitrose, was launched in 2007 and is a nationwide scheme designed to encourage schools to create gardens and teach children the skills of growing plants.

The campaign helps all schools to make the most of gardening whether they have an established garden or are thinking about growing in containers in the playground. Over 8,000 schools have registered with the RHS campaign since its launch, benefiting over a million and a half children.