Ormiston Victory Academy - a winning streak!

Ormiston Victory Academy on the outskirts of Norwich are a school used to winning. Last year in the Norwich in Bloom schools competition they won the ‘Composting’, and ‘Best School Project (12 - 18 years)’ categories and came second in the ‘Fruit and Vegetable Plot’. In 2009 they were the overall School Winner with no less than five awards achieved!

Students planting a tree

Their active Grounds Force Gardening club is run by Pauline Williamson, Environmental and Outdoor Learning Co-ordinator and attended by up to 15 pupils of all ages. They look after a wildlife garden, an allotment and decorative containers throughout the school grounds.

The Olympic Wildlife Garden

Vegetables from the allotment are used in the school kitchen and in cooking sessions. They are also one of 50 secondary schools participating in the ‘Fruit-full Schools’ Scheme and are creating a community orchard with regional varieties of fruit trees with the aim of re-engaging students and the community with the tradition and value of growing apples and other fruit.

The Organic Allotment

The development of the garden and gardening activities at the school have been supported by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening Regional Advisor, Alison Findlay, and the school have reached Level 3 in the Campaign benchmarking scheme.

Friends of Norwich in Bloom Schools Liaison Officers Maureen Street and Jo Chiddick, are very familiar with the achievements of this and other schools in the area. The group have supported schools in Norwich for 25 years and have been impressed by the development of whole school approaches to ‘looking after our world’.

Recently they used their contacts to put other schools in the area in touch with Ormiston Victory.

The pupils of the Gardening club are delighted to show off their achievements and advise others on how they can follow in their footsteps. Pauline Williamson says “Maureen spreads the word about what we do and as a result we have hosted visits from local schools including Harford Manor and Mile Cross Primary. The latter school used their experiences and photos of their time in the Wildlife Garden as inspirational evidence for their proposal of establishing similar areas at their school”

On occasion Norwich in Bloom are also able to help the school with gifts of seeds or bulbs which have been used to enhance their floral displays.

Alison Findlay says ‘Ormiston Academy is an exemplar school garden in Norfolk which other schools can visit for ideas and advice, and it is great that Norfolk in Bloom are able to help with this through their contacts’.