End of year summary!

Eco-action report
From the gardener’s banquet to the Malvern Flower show, this has been another busy year for the eco-action group. The students started the year with a bumper harvest from the vegetable plots , the school’s amazing chiefs transformed the produce into a meal that the finest restaurants would have been proud of; the lavender shortbread was the talk of the staff room.
The Eco-action team have continued to visit Lickey End nature reserve on a number of occasions. There is now a thriving Water Vole community in this park and the team have been instrumental in establishing the conditions necessary for them to thrive. At the end of the year I attended a meeting with the Green Flag assessors ( a nationally recognised award for excellence in parks) and they were extremely complimentary of the work that our students had done at the site.
In the garden the team have developed a beautiful wildlife area, growing most of the plants from seed. We were treated to a visit by a willow specialist who helped the students create fences and obelisks, we even have an animal in the garden which keeps evolving as the students add more willow to it! Community action day in May saw the final transformation of this area which is dedicated to Jenny Fisher, a long serving nurse in the health centre. The number of butterflies and bees in the garden has increased significantly.
Eating the produce has been a recurring theme this year, in addition to the banquet we enjoyed pumpkin soup in the greenhouse on the cold evening in November, which was in stark contrast to the Eton Mess which the team enjoyed in the last week of the summer term with our home grown strawberries.
Already we are looking ahead to next year. The team are very excited about two major projects: The Malvern Flower Show and the New Conservation garden by the LRC. The school have been asked to design a flower garden for the Malvern show, this will include pupils from all three sections of the school. The theme for this year is sustainability and we will be designing a garden to promote the sustainability of Bees. Planting has already begun and we are delighted that Speller Metcalfe have offered their support with the hard landscaping and planning. The IB team have been working on the plans for the new conservation garden; this will include an outdoor classroom giving a wonderful opportunity for a new learning environment.

Eton Mess mark the end of term

The end of term was marked with Eton Mess in the garden, made with our delicious Strawberries. The students and teachers loved it! Especially with the zero food miles involved.

This term has been busy in the Eco-action activity, students have engaged in a wide range of activities including habitat conseration for Watervoles, tree planting and the creation of a wildlife garden on the community action day.

Summer term

The garden is really starting to flourish now... the strawberries are delicious, Eton Mess on Friday!

Community action part two

In the afternoon students went to the Lickey End nature reserve and continued with the work that the school have done to support the Water Vole population in this area.

Work consisted of planting a variety of plants that Water Voles like to eat throughout the year including Marsh Marigolds and the Water Iris.

This involved wading through the water in very attractive clothing! but it was great fun.......

Keen community service students working in the school conservation garden. Half of this activity day was spent in the garden creating a wildlife garden and planting in preparation for the Three Counties Show garden next year.