In the spring of 2023, Robert Kett Primary School was lucky enough to have artist Jim Buchanan design and install an enclosed area of 9 raised beds next to the lower playground.

Straightaway, the school’s Eco Club got to work sowing seeds, weeding and watering.

The site manager installed a water butt, staff donated spare strawberry, pumpkin and tomato plants; parents and grandparents sent in packets of seeds.

That Autumn, when the first glut of beans, leeks, chard, tomatoes and pumpkins were harvested, was a very special time. The children felt so proud taking their trugs of produce to the chefs in Kett’s Kitchen where it would be used in their famously delicious school meals.

In 2024, as part of the school’s Nurture provision, a Gardening Club was formed, meeting once a week to carry out the main duties but also to enjoy the wellbeing aspects of being outside, socialising while connecting to nature. These children are currently working through the RHS School Gardening Awards and have already successfully achieved Level 3.

The Kitchen Garden has sparked curiosity and interest in children from all year groups, so now we are blessed to have an MSA who organises a daily strawberry picking rota and groups of children who volunteer to do weeding or litter picking during their lunchtime play.

As well as continuing to supply the kitchen, future plans for the garden include growing a community herbal-teas-for-health garden, a cut flower patch and as many pollinator-friendly plants as possible to increase biodiversity in our school grounds.