Cultivating a love of 3 Rs

The Royal Horticultural Society is urging school gardening to be high on the education agenda and recognised as a key teaching tool.

New research by the RHS shows for the first time, the enormous impact gardening plays in a child's wellbeing, learning and development.

Dr Simon Thornton Wood, director of science and learning, RHS, said: "As the new coalition government considers a new approach to the primary curriculum, we hope they acknowledge the striking conclusions of our research and that gardens enable a creative, flexible approach to teaching that has significant benefits.

"Schools which integrate gardens into the curriculum are developing children who are much more responsive to the challenges of adult life."

Commissioned by the RHS from independent researchers the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), the report highlights how schools which actively use a garden, develop resilient, ready to learn and responsible children – 3R attributes that make up well-balanced, happier, healthy, rounded individuals.

The NFER surveyed a selection of 1,300 school teachers and studied in-depth 10 schools belonging to the RHS Campaign for School Gardening, from a large urban London primary to small village school in Yorkshire, to discover that gardening in schools encourages children to:

n Become stronger, more active learners capable of thinking independently and adapting their skills and knowledge to new challenges at school and in future.

n Gain a more resilient, confident and responsible approach to life so they can achieve their goals and play a positive role in society.

n Learn vital jobs skills such as presentation skills, communication and team work, and fuel their entrepreneurial spirit.

n Embrace a healthier, more active lifestyle as an important tool for success at school and beyond.

n Develop the ability to work and communicate with people from all ages and backgrounds.

In 2007, the RHS Campaign for School Gardening was launched to encourage schools to create gardens. There are 12,000 schools signed up to the campaign, benefiting more than 2.5m pupils.

Over the next three years, the RHS will campaign to get the benefits of gardening in schools better and more widely understood and train 4,500 teachers in how to use a garden as an essential teaching tool.

The RHS's commitment to education is further demonstrated this week, as it opens its new multi-million-pound green learning centre at RHS Garden Harlow Carr in Harrogate.

The building which is one of the greenest in the country, is constructed from natural and recycled materials; has a grey water recycling system; passive solar heating and a green sedum roof and includes a zero carbon rating; a wind turbine and ground source heat pump.For more information, visit www.rhs.org.uk/schoolgardening

n Meanwhile, researchers at the University of Leeds are working with the Royal Horticultural Society to find out if pupils who garden at school develop a taste for fruit and vegetables.

The project, led by University of Leeds Professor of Nutritional Epidemiology and Public Health Janet Cade, will evaluate the RHS Campaign for School Gardening over two growing seasons.

A total of 74 schools across London will be taking part in the study to look at the eating habits of pupils aged seven and eight.

Researchers will see whether growing food through school gardens plays

a role in the amount of fruit and vegetables children eat and their

other food choices, such as snacks and soft drinks.

Over the two years, the children will be interviewed and asked to complete a food diary at the beginning and end of the study to assess whether school gardening has had an impact on their diet.

YP MAG 17/7/10