December 2011
The Garden Classroom has won a 2011 LEAF Award for the most successful project funded by the Forestry Commission since the start of the Community Grant Scheme.
The award was collected at City Hall on 1st December. Winners of The Garden Classroom’s Islington & Hackney primary school tree poetry competition came to collect their prizes, and overall prizewinner Maya Cooper from Year 6 at Tufnell Park Primary read out her poem at City Hall’s Living Room in front of an audience of 100 people.
Winning poems:
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Year 6
October 2011
Click here for details of our half-term workshops for children aged 5-11 at King Henry’s Walk Garden.
September 2011
St Matthias primary school pupils enjoyed a literacy day at King Henry’s Walk Garden called ‘The Wonderful World of Bees’. You can find a picture of them in the gallery.
September 2011
The Garden Classroom's Board Members on their 2011 Away Day to Hackney City Farm. Left to right: Rohan Knox, Bob Gilbert, Matthew Loveday, Rosey Lyall, Marnie Rose and Stuart Roweth.
August 2011
We are pleased to announce that The Garden Classroom has been awarded its second Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge.
August 2011
From 1 September The Garden Classroom will be delivering a two year educational programme from King Henry’s Walk Garden called 'Global Growers'.
The project is funded by the Lottery’s Local Food fund and will work with eight Islington schools a year to train teachers to embed food growing in the school curriculum and teach about issues of sustainability and food. The programme will provide the opportunity for hundreds of pupils to experience growing and eating their own food and set these skills in context by also teaching about the local and global impacts of our food choices.
Pupils will explore topics such as farming methods, fair trade, air miles and climate change and each school will receive ten 'global growers' workshops of their choice such as visits to city farms, local markets and King Henry’s Walk Garden. The Global Growers project manager is Rohan Knox and she will be based at King Henry’s Walk Garden. If you’d like to find out more about our project please email rohan@thegardenclassroom.org.uk.
June 2011
The Garden Classroom's Marnie Rose has featured as guest blogger on the Islington Life Blog, and see the Islington Wildlife Blog for information on the exciting pilot project at Whittington Park.
June 2011
| The Garden Classroom are delighted to announce that Peter Carne, OBE, has joined the Board. Peter is a freelance educational consultant (specialising in Learning Outside the Classroom). He was awarded an OBE in the 2010 New Year Honours List for services to education. |
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May 2011
The Chair's Report for 2011 is now available.
March 2011
BBC Gardener's World presenter, Joe Swift, has been an enthusiastic supporter of The Garden Classroom since it started. Joe, who was recently profiled in Gardens Illustrated magazine, said:
 | 'It's a fact - children love gardening. They find it fun, exciting, creative and extremely rewarding. As well as being good exercise it increases their understanding of the natural world around them and precisely where their food comes from - and no, it's not the supermarket! The process itself teaches key practical skills plus a little patience and how to work well in a team. These are important life lessons that simply can't be taught in a classroom setting or learnt from a computer screen. Gardening is all about being outdoors, that's the whole point. Getting stuck in, getting your hands dirty whilst being surrounded by plants, wildlife and the changing seasons. There's something completely magical in sowing a seed, watching it grow and flower, and I believe that every child from every background should be given this opportunity. This is exactly what The Garden Classroom is about and I'm proud to be associated with it.' |
March 2011
The Garden Classroom has become the first Growing Schools provider in London, using King Henry’s Walk Garden as a site.
February 2011
The Garden Classroom is one of the chosen organisations under the Community Matters scheme at Waitrose in Holloway Road for the month of February. Please tell your friends to shop at Waitrose Holloway Road and put their green plastic coin in the TGC box!
January 2011
The Garden Classroom will be delivering a series of talks and workshops at King Henry’s Walk Garden over the course of 2011. For a talks and events list please email info@thegardenclassroom.org.uk or check the What's on page.
January 2011
The Garden Classroom will begin a new outreach nature education project at Whittington Park in spring 2011. If you would like to know more about the project please email info@thegardenclassroom.org.uk.
January 2011
Bob Gilbert became Acting Chair of The Garden Classroom on 11 January 2011.
December 2010
London Tree and Woodland Awards - Urban Tree Award
The Garden Classroom won the Urban Tree Award at the London Tree and Woodland Awards at City Hall on Thursday 2 December. The award was for the most successful project delivered in an urban woodland (Docwra's Wood in King Henry’s Walk Garden). A handcarved bowl and certificate were collected by two Islington primary school pupils: Isabella Rose and Finn Roweth. Isabella read out her poem ‘Autumn Trees’ to an audience of around 100 people.
The Garden Classroom has delivered a series of 12 workshops at Docwra's Wood over the autumn period. This pilot project has also earned highly positive feedback from local teachers:
November 2010
Docwra's Wood outreach project
Ten local primary schools from Islington and Hackney are visiting Docwra's Wood at King Henry’s Walk Garden over November and December, including Canonbury, St Jude’s & St Paul’s and Princess May primary schools. The theme is trees and woods and the children will be looking at what makes trees so important to the living world - examining trees close up and hearing about their myths and legends.
Funded by the Forestry Commission, this is an important pilot project for King Henry’s Walk Garden, with more planned for next year.
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Click here to see some pictures of the woodland project |
November 2010
Epping Forest trips
The Garden Classroom took a class of Year 5 primary school children to Epping Forest on 3 November. Funded by Cambridge Education, this was a seminal trip for TGC with another later in the month and more planned for 2011.
Canonbury Primary School Year 5s enjoyed looking at habitats and exploring the forest, including walking in a stream, looking at trees close up, and enjoying the autumn leaves. It was a great day.
Paul Venus, Canonbury Year 5 teacher, said “the Epping Forest excursion was very positive… the day was brilliant, the kids really enjoyed it and it supported their topic perfectly”.
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Click here to see some pictures of the day out |
September 2010
| 21 September: The Garden Classroom has recruited Bob Gilbert as Special Advisor to the Board. |  |
Bob has many years' experience of devising and running environmental projects, particularly with young people. Among other things he has worked as a teacher, a community worker, a stand-up comedian and as Head of Centre at Islington's residential field studies centre. More recently he served as a Director with Islington Council responsible for its greenspace and sustainability services. During this period he was responsible for securing the land and raising the income to establish the King Henry's Walk Garden site and later for acquiring Docwra's Wood for the Council. Bob has a particular interest in the ecology of urban areas and now lives in the East End where his wife is a Parish priest. He continues to write regularly on environmental topics and is currently working on a second edition of his book, The Green London Way, which links parks and open spaces around London in a 100 mile walking route.
September 2010
On Thursday 16 September The Garden Classroom delivered Darwin training with Dr Sue Johnson from the Charles Darwin Trust at Caledonian Park for Islington's park rangers and school teachers. They learnt about the Darwin trail at the park and how it can be used to enhance park users' and pupils' engagement and learning at the park.
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Dr Sue Johnson trains Islington's teachers on the benefits of visiting Caledonian Park for education with their pupils |
September 2010
Floating Classroom science project
The Garden Classroom, in partnership with Beauchamp Lodge floating classroom, has delivered a week of science workshops to Islington’s primary schools. It’s the first time the Beauchamp Lodge vessel, one of the largest boats on the Regent's Canal, has worked with science and education in Islington. The boat has been delivering science in West London for many years.
The seminal project, funded by Cambridge Education and the Ernest Cook Trust, spent five days teaching pupils from Hanover, Canonbury, Thornhill and Pakeman primary schools about nature and the environment. The children learnt about water quality, floating, sinking, wildlife and insects, including looking at a rare ant that lives along the Islington stretch of Regent's Canal.
Marnie Rose, Chief Executive of The Garden Classroom, said: “The Garden Classroom’s commitment to outside the classroom learning for Islington’s pupils is reflected in the delivery of this exciting project. It’s refreshing to learn in a different way and one that enhances pupils' understanding of their local environment in an engaging way. I hope we can find funding to deliver a similar project next year”.
Sara Cinamon, science consultant for Cambridge Education which part funded the project, said: “This has been an incredibly exciting opportunity for Islington's pupils to take their science learning outdoors. The children and their teachers made new discoveries, were challenged and had fun!”
Pakeman Primary School teacher Emma Bonnin said: “We had an amazing day and it was one of the best trips we have been on”.
Go to the gallery to see some pictures of the activities.
August 2010
Dick Millard presents a Darwin slate marker from London’s first Darwin trail to Roslyn Cameron, Development Officer at Fundacion Charles Darwin in August 2010. A duplicate stone from the London Trail was taken to the Galapagos and presented to the Estacion Charles Darwin, in Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz, the capital of the Galapagos Islands. A similar Darwin Trail is to be launched on the Islands in November this year.
July 2010
The Charles Darwin Trail, the first of its kind in London, at Caledonian Park, Islington, was launched on Tuesday 6 July at 4pm.
Teacher and park ranger training is arranged for Thursday 16 September. If you’d like to book a place please do so by emailing marnie@thegardenclassroom.org.uk. The training is free.
You can download a copy of the leaflet guide to the trail by clicking here.
May 2010
The Garden Classroom is pleased to have a registered Capital Growth growing space at King Henry's Walk Garden.
March 2010
13 & 14 March, Festival of Outdoor Learning, Hollowford Centre, Castleton, Derbyshire. Gordon MacLellan from Creeping Toad says “I went last year and found it lively, informal and challenging - a good chance to see what other people are doing and talk about it!”. Booking: Please contact Hollowford on 01433 620377 or email jess@hollowford.org for further details and a booking form.
February 2010
23 February, Education in the Outdoors event in Sheffield, presented by the Countryside Recreation Network.
9 February, 6.30pm, The Garden Classroom's Annual General Meeting at King Henry's Walk Garden. If you’d like to attend, please rsvp to info@thegardenclassroom.org.uk.
December 2009
Secretary of State for the Environment, Hilary Benn, attended a Garden Classroom session at King Henry's Walk Garden on 7 December.
He said "I had a very enjoyable time at the Garden Classroom and was really impressed with the enthusiasm shown by the pupils from St Jude’s & St Paul’s Primary School who were looking at worms, slugs and beetles. The Garden Classroom is a great project that is helping local children to understand the importance of looking after the natural environment around us. It clearly plays a significant role at the heart of this community in Islington, and it’s a tribute to the hard work of everyone involved."
Click here to see some photos of the visit.
November 2009
Teachers at Highbury Quadrant Primary School have given positive feedback on the Garden Classroom Outreach Pilot funded by Islington's East Area Committee (see News, August 2009). Miss Deeny, Year 3 teacher, said the programme was "relevant to the curriculum and pitched at the right level for the children. Very enjoyable and worthwhile. Thank you!" Pupils agreed: "This is the best ever!" (Megan) and "Thanks for teaching me stones because I had difficulty with my science project book" (Redri).
When asked if the children enjoyed the session, Mr Harrigan, Year 4 teacher, said "Very much. Eye-opening for them." On seeing strawberries still growing in the garden, Ryan (Year 4) exclaimed "Whoa! This is well sick!" - praise indeed!
October 2009
Darwin Trust training was run at King Henry's Walk Garden on Friday 3rd October. This is the first time Darwin training has been held in Islington. Click here to find out more ...
September 2009
The Garden Classroom has been awarded the Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge as a recognition of their commitment to engage in an ongoing process to sustain high quality learning outside the classroom and to meet all of the Quality Badge indicators.
August 2009
Islington Council's East Area Committee has given The Garden Classroom a grant to outreach to more local primary schools and encourage them to attend educational sessions at King Henry's Walk Garden.
July 2009
The Edible Islington Blog goes live . . . click here to read the blog.
June 2009
The Garden Classroom will be delivering a one year Local Food project involving three primary schools from June 2009. The three schools involved are Hanover, St Jude's & St Paul's and Newington Green. Each school will participate in Local Food growing workshops both on the school site and at two community gardens: King Henry's Walk Garden and Culpeper.
May 2009
The Garden Classroom and the Charles Darwin Trust are working together on a project involving training of TGC's facilitators and Year 4 teachers from Hanover, St Jude's and St Paul's, and Newington Green Primary Schools. There will also be a trip to Down House (home of Charles Darwin) in April 2010.
April 2009
25 April, 1pm to 3pm. Wildlife and gardening workshops provided by The Garden Classroom at King Henry's Walk Garden. Drop-in practical fun for the whole family.
March 2009
As sponsor of the schools category in this year's Islington in Bloom competition, The Garden Classroom was interviewed by the Islington Gazette. Click here to read the article.
February 2009
Special screenings for schools of The Secret Garden organised by The Garden Classroom at the Rio Cinema, Dalston.
February 2009
The Royal Horticultural Society gave its seal of approval to The Garden Classroom by adding it to its list of resources for teachers in London, as part of its Campaign for School Gardening.
December 2008
The Garden Classroom made history by holding the first ever education workshop at the West London Synagogue Cemetery in Kingsbury Road, created in the 1840s. The workshop was on rocks and weathering for Year 4 children. The Synagogue and the Ecology Centre who manage the site were delighted that local children had the opportunity to visit the cemetery, which is a haven for wildlife as well as a site of great historical interest.
