DVD and Resource Pack
This DVD shows teachers and pupils how to plan, build, develop and maintain a school garden using organic principles. Along with the DVD disc, the pack contains 24 Worksheets/Bileoga Oibre to complement the video as well as a comprehensive document showing the curriculum linkages. The content is in English and in Irish and available free of charge to all Primary Schools from Bord Bia.
The DVD covers topics such as:
- Composting
- Water cycle
- Basic growing techniques
- Building raised beds and planting veg
- Creating a herb garden and planting fruit bushes
- Planting an orchard
- Creating a wildlife area
- Building a pond
- Building a polytunnel
- Garden care during the summer holidays
- Container planting
- Cooking the produce grown
The work began in February 2008 and recorded the progress of four schools over an 18 month period. The schools involved were:
- Holy Trinity Senior School in Donaghmede Dublin 13
- St Michael's Primary School, Ballyfermot
- Scoil an Linbh Íosa in Prosperous
- Scoil Mhuire na Trócaire in Ardee, Co Louth.
A team of organic experts was appointed to visit the schools and work with the children in assessing what already existed in the school grounds planning what they wanted in their school garden and working with them over an 18 month period to develop and execute the plan.
Children from all classes were involved in the project and the DVD demonstrates the children's involvement in creating a garden. The focus was different in the different schools - for example very little development of a school garden had taken place in the Holy Trinity School in Donaghmede while the school in Prosperous had a well developed garden in place and the focus here was in enhancing it with for example an insect hotel and improving their composting facilities.
The project was funded by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries & Food.