Pupils’ Core Values

By ANN EVANS

PUPILS at Templars Primary School don’t believe in throwing anything away in the rubbish bins – not if it can be composted or recycled.

Under the guidance of teacher Adrian Griffiths, the pupils make sure all their fruit leftovers, such as apple and pear cores, banana skins and orange peel, are all placed in a special bin, which in turn goes on to the compost heap.

It’s not surprising then that the school in Tile Hill, Coventry, has a thriving vegetable garden where the children grow cabbages, leeks, Brussels sprouts, potatoes, strawberries and a host of other vegetables and flowers.

The school is working hard in their efforts to be eco-friendly, not just in recycling and organic growing, but also in energy and water conservation.

Adrian, who is a keen gardener with his own allotment, decided to get the final-year pupils in 2006-2007 involved in creating a school garden, and set about working on a particular poor patch of land in the grounds.

"This was just dead ground, but we’ve created these long vegetable beds," he said. "The soil was rubbish so we had to bring in good soil, which the children have worked on, and dug in compost. The beds were divided into individual plots for the pupils toplant flowers, fruit and vegetables in.

"The children who helped to set it up have now gone on to senior school and our new gardeners are equally as enthusiastic.

"The idea was to go from seed to plant, allowing the children see how things grow and then finally for the things they’ve grown to go on to the plate in cookery sessions."

The budding Alan Titchmarshes and Charlie Dimmocks were particularly excited as they had just taken delivery of worms for their wormery – the latest edition to their school garden.

Pupil Christina Sutton couldn’t speak highly enough of them. "I love worms, they’re lovely, wriggly, squiggly little things which are very important in the garden. They break down the soil by eating it and then it comes out as a cast."

As well as a thriving vegetable garden, the youngsters also have a greenhouse, and lots of green bins, leaf boxes, water tubs to collect rain water, as well as compost heaps and recycling bins for paper, which Jordan Nash, aged nine, collects from theclassrooms to be shredded, recycled or composted.

"I also collect the peelings when the other children have had their fruit, for the compost," says Jordan. "We have different green bins for different things; banana skins in one, a mixture in another and old plants in a third.

"All the school benefits from the garden, and not just in lessons about plants and gardening," Adrian added.

"It’s also used for science projects, maths work, art, writing – children have written instructions on how to plant and grow potatoes, for example.

The environment and the planet are very important to us."

Compost ingredients – Hot rotters: Comfrey leaves Young weeds Grass cuttings Chicken manure Pigeon manure

Other compostable items: Wood ash Cardboard Paper towels and bags Cardboard tubes Egg boxes Fruit and veg scraps Tea bags Coffee grounds Old flowers Bedding plants Old straw and hay Vegetable plant remains Strawy manures Young hedge clippings Softprunings Perennial weeds Gerbil, hamster and rabbit bedding

Slow rotters: Autumn leaves Tough hedge clippings Woody prunings Sawdust Wood shavings

Avoid: Meat Fish Newspaper Cooked food

Do NOT compost: Coal and coke ash Cat litter Dog faeces Disposable nappies Glossy magazines

(c) 2007 Coventry Evening Telegraph. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.