12th September - Some help from the Virgin Money Volunteers

On Friday we were lucky enough to have a team of 13 volunteers in to work in our garden for the day.  It was a lovely day and they all worked incredibly hard and really helped us out with some big jobs we had on our list.

One group transformed the weed and grass covered paths between our raised beds.  They worked hard to remove the grass and weeds.

Then put weed barrier down between the raised beds, securing it with pegs.

And then covering the weed barrier with chippings which we were given by our friends at Tynemouth Tree Surgeons.  Looks fantastic, makes our raised beds look really neat and tidy and will make the garden much easier to negotiate for our students.

 In the spring we just didn't have time to finish the floor before planting and the summer holidays.  So we have managed with a rather uneven floor for the summer.  A group of students worked hard on Thursday to clear tomato plants and cucumber plants from the poly-tunnel, harvesting the produce and clearing it ready for work to begin the next day.

It was hot, hard work in the poly-tunnel, we tried to keep the volunteers well fed and watered!

And here is the end result, two paths up the side next to the raised beds, weed barrier and gravel down the middle.  Again, it looks fantastic and will make a huge difference to the students who will be using this as their outdoor classroom.

The final group tackled a rather neglected and over-grown area behind our poly-tunnel.  We had ear-marked this area for a composting station.  The concrete slab had to be smashed up and put in the skip.

The soil was all leveled out - already the space looks so much better than it did before.

The team then had to decide how to construct the composting system.  We have been saving pallets to use for this.  8 pallets were fastened together with screws and pieces of old decking were used to brace it and make it strong and secure,  Our  Design Technology teacher had made some pegs to fasten the composter into the ground.

The finished composter.  The space looks great, totally different.  The team created something that can be easily used by the students.  The four separate areas will make it simple for the students to remember which section garden waste does into, and they will be able to see how garden waste can, over time be make into compost we can use of the garden.

A huge thanks to Virgin Money - we really enjoyed having your team in our school for the day, they have made a huge difference to our garden project.

Thank You!