Get Your Grown-ups Growing 2012

Here on the website you'll find all the resources you need to organise a successful event at your school this October, and to continue the good work into the future. Whether or not you already have a garden you can gain lots of benefits from joining in and spreading the word about the value of growing to people of all ages.

Tending to raised beds at Meadowside Community Primary School's GYGG event.

Schools that already have gardens can use the event to show adults how their children benefit, and perhaps help develop a new area or resource. For schools without gardens it’s the ideal opportunity to involve parents, grandparents, carers and friends from the very beginning. This event is part of the RHS Campaign for School Gardening, which provides a wide range of information, advice and support for member schools. So, why not fix a date during October to Get Your Grown-ups Growing, and discover what you can achieve together.

Get Your Grown-ups Growing at your school

It’s about sharing

Gardening in schools is great for children, helping them develop academic, practical and social skills. It’s also great for grown-ups, and that’s what this day is all about – sharing the excitement of growing plants, spreading the word about healthy, home-grown fruit and veg, and bringing relatives and friends into the school. Gardening is an activity everyone can enjoy, and is a brilliant opportunity to bring all sectors of the community together. It’s also a chance for children to show what they can do and for grown-ups to give valuable, practical help to benefit the school as a whole.

Children at Bucknall Primary School's GYGG event learning together

It’s about learning

Gardening is about learning how to grow plants – but it’s much more than that. Through gardening children can develop literacy and numeracy skills in a practical context, and a well-planned school garden can be used to teach any area of the curriculum in an engaging and effective way. Moreover, gardening at school has been shown to improve both social skills and academic attainment, to improve attendance and reduce behaviour problems.

It’s about inclusion

It’s well known that gardening has many therapeutic benefits, and can have particular value in helping to integrate those disadvantaged by personal circumstance, disability or learning difficulties. More subtly it can contribute to community cohesion by embracing all ages and backgrounds, and providing a context where everyone’s contribution can be valued.

Bulb planting as a team at Chad Vale Primary School

It’s about attainment

Schools are faced with many targets and aspirations to meet. Gardening, especially when it involves the wider community, can be the perfect vehicle for important messages about healthy eating and sustainability. In terms of Ofsted inspections, involving your children and the wider community in developing a school garden will bring value to a number of areas including:
• Involving learners, parents/carers and stakeholders in improving provision
• Contributing to learners personal development, health and well being
• Using enrichment activities such as out-of-classroom learning to contribute to enjoyment and achievement
• Encouraging pupils of different backgrounds to interact and work together, and understand a cohesive community.


About the RHS Campaign for School Gardening

The RHS is the UK’s leading gardening charity with a mission to encourage everyone, at any age, to have a go at growing plants and reap the benefits that gardening can bring.

We believe that school gardening is a vitally important part of every child’s education. That’s why we launched this campaign to encourage all schools to get growing by providing them with all the advice, information, ideas and inspiration they need to make gardening at their school a success.

Children outside the Clore learning centre at Wisley

Once schools are registered to the Campaign they work through a benchmarking process, gaining recognition and additional resources as they progress from Level 1 Planning your garden to Level 5 Celebrating with the wider community. The scheme is now helping almost 14,000 schools and organisations provide hands-on learning opportunities to grow plants and garden sustainably.

The Campaign website has an interactive area for students, introducing them to many gardening basics, and a teachers’ area containing news updates, a wide range of teaching resources and case studies. The RHS also runs an extensive programme of training courses which are detailed on the website.