Using gardening as a school mental health intervention

Carlton Keighley is a small community secondary school in a semi-rural location on the edge of Bradford. The school has been on a remarkable journey over recent years. They have come up with lots of unusual ways of making the most of their school grounds, for example, turning a disused bike shed into a greenhouse and making bat boxes.

04 May 2023

How the pandemic affected students at Carlton Keighley

During the 2020 lockdown, Carlton Keighley Academy remained open for groups of vulnerable children. During this time, all sorts of activities took place, including gardening. After the pandemic, the school recognised the need to support children who had missed huge chunks of school, and whose mental health and literacy had suffered as a consequence of this.
 

Running a mental health intervention 

Recognising the need for further support, Philip Chapman, an Intervention Manager was hired and the school now have intervention programmes embedded into the curriculum, including gardening. Staff member, Esta Bernardini, specialises in supporting students with visual impairment. She leads the school gardening sessions along with her colleague, Philip, and each week they take around nine children outside for a couple of hours.  

“Sometimes it’s not the act of gardening, it’s the conversations you can have outside too. It’s been great for the students who can find it difficult to focus in class, as gardening is about slowing down and relaxing.”

– Esta Bernardini, Carlton Keighley Academy Gardening Lead 

A rather unusual greenhouse

The gardening group has turned unused bike sheds into a greenhouse where they grow native British herbs. In addition to this, they have an allotment, a copse, which is a small group of trees, and an orchard where they have damson, plum, heritage apple and pear varieties as well as gooseberry, blueberry and blackcurrant bushes. The students have learned how to use a range of tools to build raised beds for growing vegetables, as well as learning about produce from different countries and climates. They are encouraging wildlife into the space by sowing wildflowers for pollinators as well as building bug hotels and bat houses. They’ve also started two compost heaps on rotation and learned valuable skills such as taking softwood cuttings, staking and thinning out plants and weeding.  

To make sure they reap the rewards of their edible produce, students are encouraged to take their harvested herbs and vegetables up to the cooking room in the summer term, where they spend an afternoon learning to cook a range of dishes.

"The opportunity to get outside, grow plants and see the tangible impact of their hard work has massive benefits for the young people, both in terms of the practical science of seeing how plants develop, thrive and grow, but also in ensuring our students are happy, healthy and well-rounded individuals."

- Mark Turvey, Head of Carlton Keighley Academy
 

Creating a sense of familiarity and belonging

The garden has given students with EAL (English as an Additional Language) great pleasure as they grow herbs and vegetables such as okra, coriander, and onions. Being able to recognise familiar foods helps with their wellbeing, and being in the garden gives them a chance to make connections with their peers. 

Enterprising plans for the future 

In the future, Carlton Keighley Academy hope to turn the garden, greenhouse and allotment into an enterprise, selling young plants and produce in school to raise funds to expand and get involved in the local community and agricultural industry. Eventually they would like to run a qualification such as a BTech in Land Based Studies or Horticulture, enabling students to not only benefit their personal growth, but leave with post-16 education prospects. They are also planning to get chickens! 

Advice for other schools 

“Children’s mental health is not an overnight turnaround, and it’s important to keep reminding yourself that. The students need to know that you’re there for them no matter what. Sometimes you just want to see a change straight away, but don’t give up.”

– Esta, Carlton Keighley Academy Gardening Lead

The key for other schools wanting to do a similar programme, according to Esta, is to be consistent and persistent. This means getting outside and weeding right through winter, and having conversations with students in the outdoor space where there’s no pressure.  

She says, “Working in the garden really reflects children’s mental health. We all have our own seasons and produce our own fruit. Like tending to a garden, nurturing children through difficulties requires commitment and dedication, involving a lot of hard work before any results are seen. We so often focus on the positive outcomes and enjoy the fruition of a ‘harvest’, but it’s through the digging and weeding and difficult times that a lot of our learning takes place.”

If your school uses gardening as an intervention to support wellbeing, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch by emailing schoolgardening@rhs.org.uk.