The Friends of Hungerford Primary School is a charitable organisation formed by parents, which supports Hungerford Primary School to provide the best educational experience for our children. We work with the school to provide support, both financial and practical. We fund-raise, make grant applications and try to find skilled individuals to help us.
We want to help improve the outdoor spaces at school to make them more biodiverse and suitable for outdoor learning and play. Learning outside the classroom is known to contribute significantly to raising standards and improving pupils’ personal, social & emotional development. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our school is increasing the amount of time that all children spend learning outside.
We are going to create a mindful and biodiverse garden in the school grounds, to help alleviate anxiety and promote wellbeing. There will be areas for quiet reflection within a mixed perennial and grasses border. Research by the Royal Horticultural Society proves that plants and gardening are hugely beneficial to our mental health and wellbeing.
This project will give all pupils the opportunity to contribute to the making of a pebble path of their own designs, which will run through the garden. They will also get involved with the planting and the ongoing maintenance of the garden. We want to educate our children about the importance of biodiversity too. The increased variety of plants on site will encourage and support insects and other wildlife.
We are absolutely delighted and extremely grateful to The Pixel Fund for seeing the potential of this project. The grant will enable us to purchase the materials needed to complete the hard landscaping. On a very simple level, the garden will make the area so much more aesthetically pleasing and appealing. More importantly, the design creates opportunities to be immersed in the plants, and to notice how they look and feel and move in the breeze. The children will be able to use the space for yoga, reading, quiet contemplation and learning about nature.