Hi I’m Sarah; mum-of-two, freelance copywriter, part-time florist, primary school lunchtime assistant, keen gardener and Sir David Attenborough’s biggest fan!  

Ever since I was a child the garden has been my happy place. I was lucky enough to spend much of my early years gardening alongside loving grandparents who really inspired me to get outside, whatever the weather.  

I’ve never lost that love for being in the outdoors, and a passion for gardening is something I’ve hoped to pass onto my own children at our home in Christleton, Cheshire. 

Christleton Primary School (CPS), which my two attend and where I work part-time, is a superb village school which has excellent outdoor infrastructure and provision for its pupils. 

There are raised beds in the playground managed by a team of parent volunteers; which are often replanted with bulbs and plants generously donated by a Mum who is a landscape gardener. A large Forest School is onsite for children to explore and discover their own dedicated woodland, under the expert guidance of an Outdoor Education Teacher. The new Outdoor Classroom offers the children a covered space to learn outside in all weathers. And an enclosed Kitchen Garden features five raised beds where the kids can learn to plant and grow their own food.  

It was the latter that piqued my interest, and so in the summer term of 2024 I asked the school’s Head whether I could run a Gardening Club with the children during their lunchtime break. Selfishly it was a way for me to get outdoors, as much of my working week is spent at a computer, as well as indulging my passion for conservation education.  

I also hoped the children would enjoy it, and it would give them some ownership over the green space available to them.  

Not only did the school’s Headteacher say yes, but from day one both he and the other staff have been overwhelmingly supportive.  

There are many reasons to run your own school gardening club, with plenty of evidence to show how getting into green space is beneficial for children. Studies show that it supports academic performance, benefits mental health, nurtures skills for life and encourages physical activity.  

Alongside these many wonderful side effects of a school gardening club, is the opportunity it presents to promote an interest in the natural world, encouraging a child’s inherent curiosity about nature and educating them on the importance of protecting British wildlife. 

At our gardening club we’ll try and do something different each week depending on the season, from planting seeds and propagating herbs, to collecting apples and digging up potatoes. Some weeks we don’t garden at all. Instead we might make natural gifts to sell at the school’s Christmas fair using foliage we’ve collected from around the grounds. Or we’ll litter-pick on the playing field.

The biggest success I’ve had was making our gardening club’s scarecrow! The children loved this activity, and it was a surprisingly easy one to do! But consistently, I try to encourage the children to identify the wildlife in the space during each and every session, and then to consider how we can support it.  

For example, the nettles which grow at the back of the raised beds felt like a nuisance to the children, a cause of nasty stings which got in the way of their fun. But I showed them the importance the nettles have as a source of food and shelter for caterpillars, which will turn into butterflies if we protect them. I then safely removed the nettles that obstructed the beds, and we popped those onto the compost heap (which is ideally situated next to a fenced off area filled with nettles!). Those nettles that weren’t in our way were allowed to stay growing at the back of the beds for our caterpillar friends.  

Some weeks we’ll make a bug hotel then go on a hunt to see how many different insects we can find and identify. In the colder weather we make natural bird feeders using homegrown sunflower seeds and apples from the school field. We plant seeds to grow annuals which encourage butterflies and bees – our cosmos were fantastic last year. And we get digging to unearth worms and then talk about the important role they play in our garden’s ecosystem.  

My plans this year include making a small pond area to see if we can entice any amphibians to take up residence! Given the danger of open water in a school environment I’m looking to do this using old Belfast sinks. 

I’ve also successfully made a dead hedge raised bed with my own kids in our home garden. So that’s another project for the CPS Gardening Club this year.  

Free guide on how to encourage butterflies

What has been so special to witness, is just how much the gardening club participants engage with the wildlife around them. In this day and age, we can all too quickly assume that children would rather spend time on tech than in the outdoors. But children today are just as fascinated about the natural world as they always have been. We just need to allow them the time and space to explore it. 

I’ve seen kids get so excited discovering a garden spider and then looking at the intricate markings on its back. I’ve heard older ones explain to the younger ones why they need to be gentle with the roots of a plant or a ladybird. And I’ve cherished having kids run over to me when they’ve spotted me in the supermarket, shouting “is it gardening club this week Sarah?”.  

If you’re considering running a school gardening club, my advice would be to just do it.

It takes so little to get going, but the rewards are enormous.  

My tips for starting a school gardening club are: 

1. Speak to your school’s headteacher – tell them why you want to do it and ask where there could be time in the school schedule for you to run one. 

2. Explore where it fits with the curriculum – there are plenty of ways a gardening club will complement what the children are learning in class. In Key Stage 1 for example, part of the science curriculum is on life cycles; which is ideal if you have resident butterflies and frogs to discover in your school’s garden. 

3. Make the most of free online resources – the Wildlife Trusts have lots of information and support for encouraging children to spend time in nature. While the RHS Campaign for School Gardening has free resources and a course you can do to support your own club. The latter is particularly good for the formalities, such as health and safety considerations (wearing gloves, not leaving gardening tools lying around etc.). 

4. Chat to your local garden centre owner – your local garden centre will likely be very happy to support your club. I’ve found that they sometimes have seeds and plants which they can’t sell for whatever reason but are delighted to donate them to a local primary school.  

5. Get your community involved – this is so important to the success of your club. Be sure to let your local community know what you’re doing and why it’s important, and I’m certain you’ll discover, like I did, that they’re right behind you. From offering tools to their time, this local support is vital.  

Good luck!