SCHOOLS from across Worcestershire are getting out in the garden as they prepare to take part in this years RHS Malvern Spring Festival School Garden Challenge.
The competition invites schools, home education groups and further education providers from across the surrounding counties to design, deliver and display their own garden to the public at the Royal Horticultural Society.
The theme of this year’s School Garden Challenge is Myths and Legends, inviting young people to explore magical stories, cultural heritage and powerful symbolism through the design and creation of their garden, incorporating ancient folklore, mythology, heroic tales or mythical creatures.
Having won the RHS Malvern Spring Festival’s School Garden Challenge last year with an USA-inspired them, Pershore College returns this year with a design called, ‘Mythical Plants and Where to Find Them’.
The garden has been designed by students from its land-based group studying employability, as well as seven other groups across the Supported Learning and Engagement department.
The garden will be sectioned into six plots, incorporating plants from across the UK with connections to myths and legends from different regions, along with the national flower for each country.
Kate Dufton, RHS Malvern Spring Festival show manager said: “We love seeing the designs for the School Garden Challenge each year and we’re always very impressed with how children and young people have creatively interpreted the brief and brought their ideas to life through their planting.
“The School Garden Challenge is a great way to promote gardening and horticulture to children and young people, encouraging their creativity and story-telling through garden design, as well as helping to develop their confidence and self-esteem and giving them the opportunity to work as a team and develop their communication skills.
“It’s also a great way to further their understanding of the environment and sustainability, alongside supporting various elements of the national curriculum and developing hands-on skills that they can nurture and develop throughout life.”
Other schools enering in Worcestershire include Wye Forest Federation, Bridge School Malvern, The River School, Bankside College, Tudor Grange Academy, and St Michael Abbey School.
