Morrisons Lets Grow Vouchers

The allotment group have been very busy for the last few weeks due to counting 'Lets Grow' vouchers during their Tuesday lunchtime meeting.

So far we have nearly 4000 vouchers so we will be able to get lots of equipment. To find out more have a look at http://www.morrisons.co.uk/LetsGrow/The-rewards/ .

We still need your plastic bottles

We still need your 2 litre plastic bottles so we can make our green house. Please bring them to the main entrance of school.

Thank you! The Allotment Group Heathfield Primary

We have a shed!

We now have a shed for our allotment. The allotment group are just about to look inside it. Mrs Hill is looking for the camera and we hope to put some pictures of our new shed on here soon!
Big thanks to those who helped get the shed and put it up.


The Allotment Club

Worms

Three worm bins were given to Heathfield School from the Council to encourage food waste to be recycled and turned into compost. The worms eat food such as apples, banana skins, lettuce, tea bags and convert it into compost which can be used to put onto the allotment to help the vegetables grow.

Groundwork have set up a worm bin at their office and are keeping them here until after the summer holidays. When the bin was set up we had to order the worms on a special internet site. The worms arrived in a special package and I quickly put them into their new home and made sure they had enough to eat!

Take a look at the pictures which show you a bit more how a worm bin is set up!

GROUNDWORK

Leaving for summer!

On the 23rd of July the school will be breaking up for the summer holidays which means our three year six's in the allotment group will be leaving and moving on to Eastbourne accademy
We hope to see them again for more help with the allotment after school. Also we will be having two new members joining us in September.

Over the summer holidays we will be applying for money to help build the allotment ,we hope we will have the money when we come back to school so we can start work on the allotment.

By the allotment group

Fruit trees have been ordered

We have ordered three fruits trees which will arrive in November. Watch this space for further news.

We need your 2litre bottles!

Don't throw out your 2litre bottles! They will be put to good use by Heathfield Primary School who will be using them to make a green house for their allotment.

If you want to find out more about making a green house from bottles check out the below link.
http://www.tenbees.co.uk/1/recycling/news/2007/11/r20071126134017.php

Plese bring in all your bottles to Heathfield Primary School (on the Broadway Darlington) we have a bottle collection bin stationed outside the office.

Thank you for your help!
From the Heathfield Primary School Allotment Group

Can you help us?

So far we are very grateful from the help and advise we have recieved from parents. We would like to have a group of people who would be willing to help and adivse pupils and staff with the growing vegtables. If you are interested please get in touch with school.
Miss Snow

We are preparing for the community fun run we have been creating posters to advertise the allotment. At the fun run we are giving free sunflower seeds to promote what we are doing at the allotment to the community.
Rebecca

Heathfield growing

Each class have growing vegtables. Class 9's cucumber plants grew very well but then they died when the gardening club split them up.meanwhile in class13s beans didnt survive the 2 weeks because the fabulous connor forgot to take them home oh dear!

Connor and Nicole

During the last couple of months Groundwork’s Motiv8 group have been involved in the creation of a Peace Garden in the schools quadrangle. Motiv8 is an alternative learning programme for young people who are at risk for exclusion from school. The pupils in this programme are from Belgrave Street and Eastbourne Comprehensive School.

Their hard work has included removing top soil to expose a concrete base, tidying up the flower beds, assembling the wooden planters and benches and planting a cherry tree.

These Motiv8 groups will also be involved in creating the schools allotment site.

Planting Seeds

On the 5th February 2008 and 12th February 2008 Groundwork started planting seeds with the allotment club that meets every Tuesday lunchtime. Previous to this the group decided which class would grow which vegetable depending on their age and suitability. Woodburn Nursery provided the plant pots and compost while the school stocked up on a variety of vegetable seeds. Each class representative then planted their seeds in their own pots and took them back to the classroom to grow. This growing experiment is very useful for the group to see how a plant grows and what the essential needs are for a plant to survive. Some classes hadn't been as successful as others as some plants were placed in dark corners and not watered regularly. The pupils even took their plants home over half term to give them the tender loving care they need. Once the allotment is built we are hoping to plant the seedlings into the ground to produce our first crop.

Heathfield pupils visit Lacelles Allotment

Allotment visit

A representative from each class has joined the allotment group. They visited Lacelles Allotment on Wednesday 5th of December to see a real allotment to get an idea of what they looked like.

I thought that the allotments were very good and that people must put a lot of work into them. My favourite part was when we were allowed to look in a big tent like tube called a Pollytunnel. In the Pollytunnel we saw some leeks and some spring onions. We got some ideas together for the things we could have in school and which ones were easy to grow.

James Crossley

The fence has arrived!

In middle of December we received a the materials from B&Q to make the fence. We are currently waiting the land to surveyed for services. We then aim to put the fence up as soon as possible. Watch this space for further details.

Reported by James Crossley Year 5 Heathfeild School

Class 8 teacher, Miss. Snow and the Lingfield Partnership with support from Groundwork are trying set up an allotment by the infant playground, on the grass next to the staff room. Miss. Snow has spoken to B&Q and they have kindly offered the school three hundred pounds so we can get a fence to go around the allotment area. Child from each junior class are meeting together on Wednesday lunch times to plan the allotment area. Offers of help will beappreciated from parents and residents. See Miss. Snow for details. Miss Snow talked about the allotment in an assembly and everybody was given a letter to ask for gardening tools and help.There was a good response from children and parents. We have now ordered the fence for the allotment. We are aiming to start building at the beginning of January and hoping to start using the grounds in March.