St Margaret's Church of England Primary School, Tintinhull is one of the top five green schools in the UK. The little school, which lies 4 miles west of Yeovil, has been appointed by The Royal Horticultural Society as a Growing Champion School alongside four others across the country.
As part of their role as a Growing Champion School pupils at St Margaret's will be making regular videos for the RHS’s digital channels, as well as sharing tips, experiences and advice for other schools on growing flowers and vegetables.Alongside this, St Margaret’s with its 86 pupils also won a £100 National Garden Gift Voucher to thank it for contributing to what the RHS calls ‘this exciting national campaign’.
“Many congratulations on achieving your recent School Gardening Award (RHS Level 4),” says Abbie Chadwick, Communications Officer, Schools and Groups at the RHS, “and we’d like to invite your school to be one of five growing champion schools across the UK for ‘The Big Seed Sow’, our new growing campaign, launching on 20th February.
“This will involve creating bite-sized content for our digital channels and sharing … your wealth of experience, knowledge and passion with other schools. The videos will document each season’s work - the challenges and happy accidents - your top tips and more. We’re on a mission to promote the knowledge and gardening know-how held by community and school growers across the UK.”
Hayley Robinson, Headteacher of St Margaret's says, “This is an amazing honour, and a tribute to all the staff involved in running our gardening activities and Forest School. To be one of just four RHS Growing Champions across the whole of the UK is really fantastic and I’m still pinching myself! In nearly 175 years of our existence I can think of few greater honours achieved by our wonderful teachers and pupils. Well done everyone!!
“Our children love their gardening and I’m sure their videos will be full of passion and fun and will inspire other schools far and wide.”