School Gardens Update

Do you want to develop your school gardens as a resource for students, staff and maybe the local community?

Lime Orchard is a garden design and construction company based in Nottinghamshire, who have become experts in helping schools to navigate through the system, to gain funding for designing and building great gardens and outdoor classrooms to enhance pupil learning.
We have worked with pre school, primary and secondary schools and have designed and built 100% funded, great gardens for them, see below for details of some of our school projects around the country

We are also running a schools garden design competition to win up to £2000 worth of garden design fees for your school, read on to find out how your pupils can enter .

"We have your plans up for parents to see what we have as our aspiration as money allows and they have been very enthusiastic in helping the children plant the trees. We were able to use the plan to help secure funding... "

From Richard Bonington School, Notts 

Celebrate The London 2012 Games and win a Garden Design worth £2000

Children are invited to submit their own design for a garden themed around the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games . Children can let their imagination run wild (pun intended!) or take inspiration from their own experiences of the 2012 Games!

The winning entry announced after the closing date of Tuesday 6 November will a receive professional garden design advice from the award-winning Lime Orchard team up to the value of £2000 for their nominated school, youth group or community project. Two runners-up will each received £100 in Gift Vouchers to spend on garden tools, plants or equipment. A presentation event will be announced in early 2013 with Irish Olympic Show Jumper - Billy Twomey presenting the awards.

Twomey commented

“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to have the Olympic Games in your own back yard! I’m really delighted to support Lime Orchard in getting local children involved!”

The competition is open to children that attend full-time school and can submit there design in their choice of medium up to a maximum size of A3 (for print) or PDF of no more than 10Mb file size (for electronic submission)
 

Download the Entry Form click here >

Are your Pupils Enjoying the Benefits of an Outdoor Classroom?

The award winning Lime Orchard garden design team would like to share with head teachers and school governors the undisputed educational, environmental and social benefits associated with having a wonderful school garden. As a business we've an established track record in the creation of inspirational, RoSPA approved, outdoor classrooms. But as you will be aware, alfresco learning is not just about the aesthetic appeal of an outside space .

An Example of our School Garden Projects

Primary School Notts	Awaiting image
Cost to Design	£700
Cost to Build	£12,000
Funding Received	100%
This project replaced existing hard-surface play area with bespoke creative water-play and sound play areas with a focus on natural materials Using natural stone to create shallow pools and waterfall for the children to play in, also encourages insect life in to the garden. A den, created from a dome of living willow makes a beautiful hide-out for games and shaded reading area for story time. Sculptures hanging with pots and pans and beaters are there to encourage children to explore sound.

Pre-School Rutland
Cost to Design	£1,100
Cost to Build	£29,000
Funding Received	£10,000.00
The design sets out to increase play, creativity and interaction within the space. Being a very flat ext. site the aim is to introduce exploration, stimulation and journey within the area. This is achieved by introducing height, mass, division, texture and bold visual elements. Curved screens with circular, step through openings create tantalising views through to new areas of play activity. A grass knoll brings much needed greenery into the space and the rest of the area divides into water play, a trike track, sand play, sound play & sensory planting.

Primary School North London
Cost to Design	£1,100.00
Cost to Build	£17,000.00
Funding Received	£10,000.00
The brief for this school was to create a sensory garden that utilised a variety of tactile materials. The centre-piece of which was a wild-life pond with controlled access points and protruding deck to allow investigation of the pond’s eco-system in a safe manner.

Secondary School West Midlands
Cost to Design	£2500.00
Cost to Build	£100,000.00
Funding Received	100% Funding by Diocese and fund raising events
The school had extensive areas featureless of Macadam surface that required renovation. Moving away from traditional ‘black top’, a light surface brightened the area. This became the basis to create a Continental café inspired socialising environment for teenage pupils. Timber uprights create a feeling of seclusion without removing line of sight and were used to deter footfall amongst robust planting.

How Can Your School Access This?

At Lime Orchard, we have a wealth of experience of working with schools (pre-schools, primary and secondary schools) to deliver exceptional outdoor learning spaces. Our award winning garden design team was involved in the creation of the 2008 RHS Chelsea Flower Show show garden "The Marshalls garden that kids really want", which was awarded an RHS Silver medal.

We are able to combine a deep understanding of the far-reaching educational benefits of a school garden with an appreciation of the aspirations of the children for whom the garden is being created. We can work with you to create a bespoke outstanding outdoor learning resource. Our service provides a complete solution, from initial design concept right through to a quality installation delivered by experienced local landscapers.

 

Kids Getting Enough of the Green Stuff?

According to one expert, parents have a responsibility to help their children to connect more with nature.

Richard Louv, author of a book titled ‘Last Child in the Woods’ calls for mums and dads to encourage their offspring to join in with gardening activities such as setting up a bird bath, planting seeds and even helping to dig ponds.

Louv puts forward the argument that nature can have a calming influence on children and believes there are possible negative effects associated with a failure to allow our children to connect with the natural world and visit green spaces. He claims that parents who allow this to happen may be exposing their children to the genuine risk of falling victim to Nature Deficit Disorder. Symptoms cited include hyperactivity, depression, loneliness and boredom. This theory is backed up by Jules Petty from the University of Essex who states that "green exercise" can prove beneficial to young people who are experiencing stress, referring to a report from the Environmental Science and Technology journal, which revealed youngsters can increase their overall wellbeing by participating in outdoor activities. So the clear message is, make sure your kids get their green fix!

Alfresco Play

With talk of Britain raising a generation of ‘cotton wool kids’ denied the pleasures of traditional outdoor play as a result of over anxious parents too scared to let their children out alone, the pressure is on to allow kids the opportunity to indulge in some traditional free play in the safety of the home garden.

The risk of a potential knock or fall in the garden pales into insignificance compared with the dangers or raising a child whose experiences are defined by websites and computer games. That said, there are definite guidelines to follow to limit the risk of an accident in the outdoor play room :

• Play surfaces for gardens need to comply with safety standard EN1177, and basically this means that it should be self draining and non slip in order to do things like safely stop muddy patches under swings
• Play equipment must satisfy the British Toy and Hobby Association to standard no EN71-8, which covers swings, slides, and similar activity toys for indoor and outdoor family use. If it does it will display the CE and Lion mark on it as an indication that it has passed the relevant stringent tests and is fit for purpose
• It makes sense to create a dedicated children’s play zone rather than have activities taking place in the middle of your outside entertainment zone! Be sensitive to the need to provide shelter from the sun and also avoid placing any equipment close to walls or a concrete surface
• As well as specific outdoor play equipment consider investing in some specially adapted outdoor games. Giant Pick Up Sticks, Giant Dominoes or the classic kids favourite board game Snakes and Ladders can all provide endless hours of fun