Northumberland primary pupils delighted with their sensory garden project

Green-fingered youngsters in a Northumberland have been transforming the grounds of their school, with the introduction of a new outdoor area for Early Years pupils.

The Sensory Garden at St Paul’s Catholic Primary School, Alnwick features plants for every season and has been designed to ‘support the senses’.

“We wanted the children to have a love and care for the environment and also to show them where what they eat comes from, how flowers in our garden help supply the honey they have on their toast et cetera,” explained Louise Kennedy, Nursery Teacher at the school, which is part of the Bishop Bewick Catholic Education Trust.

“The Sensory Garden arose from our work around the senses. We wanted to repurpose and recycle, so we used old tyres donated to us, and seeds, plants and compost, again donated by Heighley Gate Morpeth, Homebase Alnwick, Morrisons Alnwick, and more.

“We have plants to support each of the senses and hope the fruit and vegetables we have planted will soon become our snack time treats.”

The project was planned by the children at St Paul’s, and supported by Alnwick in Bloom.

“We have been developing the EYFS outdoor areas since September and felt that the children should have ownership of this,” continued Miss Kennedy. “They helped us plan our ideal space and we began to put this into action.

“We were then approached by Alnwick in Bloom which encouraged us to develop our outdoor areas around the main school.

“We already have amazing school grounds, so, again, we talked to the children about how they would like to enhance these. This is an ongoing project.”