Using gardening to teach the primary school curriculum
Discover how the Campaign for School Gardening is embedding gardening skills via an exciting new partnership.
05 February 2024
The Campaign for School Gardening is pleased to announce a new partnership with IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society. IOE is a leading initial teacher education provider. This partnership provides an opportunity to inspire and support student teachers at the start of their careers by demonstrating that gardening can be used as an effective and inspiring method to teach subjects across the primary curriculum.
Raising awareness
Together, the Campaign for School Gardening (CFSG) and IOE are running a series of eight, half-day workshops for students enrolled on the primary PGCE programme. Each workshop focuses on a different subject specialism but all aim to raise awareness of school gardening and its role in supporting children’s learning and its benefits and value as a teaching tool.
The workshops are held at CFSG schools, where school gardening is an established part of the curriculum. The most recent workshops took place at Christ Church C of E Primary in Chelsea, London and were attended by cohorts of Music (pictured above) and PE specialism student teachers.
Jane Lloyd, RHS Schools & Groups Engagement Manager, explained why it is vital to integrate gardening into schools and learn gardening skills from an early age. Avis Hawkins, Headteacher at the host school, then gave examples of how Christ Church school connects its pupils to nature and the benefits she has witnessed from doing so. To enhance their learning with their subject specialism, the student teachers also spent time observing a lesson led by either the school’s Music teacher in the morning or gardening team in the afternoon.
Putting learning into practice
Activities linking plants, gardening and nature with curriculum subjects were delivered by Louise Mills Jay (pictured above), RHS Horticultural Training Officer. Children were then invited outside into the school garden and playground where the student teachers had a chance to try teaching the activity straight away to small groups. The students specialising in teaching Music created a garden orchestra with children using natural materials such as sticks and pine cones, while PE specialists facilitated an energetic planting relay.
“We have designed each activity so it can be delivered indoors and out, whether a school has a garden or not. Each of the activities can be delivered to a class of 30 children in any school setting and don’t require teachers to have any prior horticultural knowledge. It is also vital that minimal resources are needed so that cost isn’t a barrier for schools.”
- Louise Mills Jay, RHS Horticultural Training Officer
One of the delegates commented: “The workshop definitely opens your mind to wider possibilities of how Music can be taught in schools.”
“The level of engagement, enjoyment and collaboration among the pupils was impressive,” said Hazel Baxter, Music Specialism Lead, UCL IOE. "This powerful workshop enabled the student teachers to see how motivation and musical understanding could be enhanced by exploring the pupils’ own outside world.”
“This exciting partnership supports us to build school gardening into students’ teaching practice from the very beginning.”
- Jane Lloyd, RHS Schools & Groups Engagement Manager
New lesson plans
Why not take a look at these new lesson plans which were used in the workshops? These activities use school gardening to teach Geography, Music and PE. We’d love to hear how you embed school gardening into your teaching.