Southwold Primary School in Hackney is special as it is a rooftop garden. The garden can be seen as you walk up the central staircase of the school so it really is the heart of the school. We have built planters for all the classes with some extra ones for herbs, flax and wheat. The solar panels, that used to sit rather uncomfortably on the roof, now have garden storage cupboards beneath them and a large black board on the end so that they are an integral part of the school being more sustainable. We have two small greenhouses, a rotary composter and a wormery on the roof also. Two water-butts also collect the rainwater from the school roof.
Harvesting broad beans last summer
We were honoured to be visited by HRH Countess of Wessex at Southwold Primary School. She was so interested to hear how we use the garden, and to see the jumper we had helped to grow at school! Many thanks to the London Children’s Flower Society for making this possible it was an unforgettable experience for the pupils.
We grow lots of herbs which get taken to the school chef and used in projects and lessons.
We are growing wheat to use for lessons in loaf in the Autumn term.This is the flax we are growing to make into a new item of clothing for our Flaxman.
There are some very productive fruit trees in the garden including plum, apricot and fig. We also have red, white and black currants, blueberries and logan berries.