Kolemorgan

Transformation

This is one of the beds at one of my schools, put in in March and now flourishing with sweetcorn, leeks and sorrel. It’s part of a larger project of greening a grey playground that has been wonderful to be part of.  I started to write up some notes on the project last week trying to measure the impact the project has had. As a school gardener I’m often asked to provide schools with cold hard data in order for them to be able to allocate and justify funds for an outdoor project like this one.

Now, I can price this one bed at about £100 in terms of materials/labour/compost and seeds. It’s approximate because all of our beds are different sizes, we still have a bit of compost and wood left out of our bulk buys. In terms of usage so far at least 2 classes of children (50 in total) have observed/weeded/watered/snacked on this bed at least once a week for 20 weeks

Anyone able to do the calculation?

Does it help if I point out that the beds will probably last four seasons at least and we will gather seeds for next year? That we bought high quality compost to ensure a better growing season and that the compost bins we put in are already filling up?

Is it easier to measure if I tell you that I see children who aren’t part of the gardening classes grabbing a few leaves of sorrel to munch on as they scoot past or one of the children out with the SENCO stroking the sweetcorn leaves?

Obviously, but sadly, schools have to evaluate everything they do as part of the educational process. Each penny must be shown to ‘add value’ and each experience the children undertake must count towards the budget to meet targets.

Preparing our children for adulthood is now more like a business than ever before and as I operate in this world and need to be paid for my work to support my own family so I must understand the mechanics.

But I don’t have to like it.