Gardening Club - Leaf Composting, November 2019 

 From an Article on the Durham County Council Web Site dated 16/1/19

Green-fingered youngsters have been collecting fallen leaves to make compost for their school garden.

 

Members of Finchale Primary School's gardening club collecting fallen leaves

 

Winter is the perfect time to start composting and children at Finchale Primary School in Newton Hall, near Durham, are leading the way by collecting leaves from across the school playing field, car park and front entrance.

 

Fallen leaves make an effective fine compost that can be used as mulch, soil improver, lawn dressing or in place of peat in pots and other containers.

Finchale Primary School runs a weekly gardening club for Year 1 and Year 4 pupils, and the youngsters plan to use the compost in the raised beds in their school garden.

To encourage people to get composting, we (Durham County Council) have teamed up with Getcomposting.com to offer home compost bins at special offer prices of £17.98.

There is also a buy one get one half price offer to buy a second bin from £8.99.

 

To order a compost bin or for more information, contact 0844 571 4444 or visit the Get Composting website.

Gardening Club Care for School Gardens 2018-2019

Children in Gardening Club have been learning about all aspects of gardening and in the process have been tidying up the raised beds we have in KS1. They have also been pruning and tidying the Sensory Garden in KS2. They are having fun whilst also caring for our school enviroment - well done children. Special thanks also to our volunteers Mr & Mrs Pearson and Mrs Anderson who run the club and share their expertise with us. Their help and support is invaluable.  

Katie and Chris from Durham County Council Waste Management came to talk to us about how recycling matters. Katie explained to pupils and staff how important it is to recycle everything we possibly can and explained how we can all help. We talked about caring for our environment and how to recycle correctly. We learnt which bins to use for different items and she showed us alternatives to single use plastics.

We also learnt some amazing facts – recycling one drinks can will provide enough energy to power a TV for 4 hours! We are improving our school practices to avoid as much single use plastic as we can, cutting down on our laminating too. Katie, Chris and Lez have labelled our bins to help us to remember. Pupils in our Eco Group, pictured above, are going to help classes with sorting items for recycling and they are also going to help our younger children recyle empty milk cartons.

Please help your child to recycle at home too, remember how long that one empty can will power a TV for… There are some quick ways to help in the fight against single-use plastic. Start by thinking about the packaging when you shop – for food and all other items.