The spring weather has finally descended, and the students have been very busy with all the tasks associated with this time of year.
Once again, we would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Keith and Liz Summers, parents of Ellie in Year 11, for donating the seed potatoes just as they did last year. We have started planting these in earnest and look forward to a bumper crop in the autumn.
We must also extend a massive thank you to Kingsmead PTA who very generously funded our new Mountfield ride on mower. This is proving to be invaluable (as well as being a huge hit with the students), given the very large areas of grass we need to cut. We will also be using it to assist the PE department in creating a grass cricket pitch and outfield. The original artificial pitch has certainly seen better days, and we hope that they will love their new pitch once finished.
The students have also been planting a variety of vegetables in the polytunnel and outside in the raised beds. This year we have added Pumpkins to the selection of produce that we grow and I am hopeful that these will do well and the students will be able to take them home for Halloween. They have also planted a number of tree saplings in addition to transplanting several trees around the edges of the fields.
The students have also started sowing this year’s batch of giant sunflowers. We grew around 200 last year and hope to top that this year. We give these to students and staff to take home and grow on in their own gardens. We also donated many of these to a local Hospice shop for them to sell on. Again, we plan to do the same this year.
We have gained and lost some animals. Sadly, we lost one of our Guinea Pigs to old age and likewise two of our chickens have departed this world. We have, however, gained two more Guinea Pigs and some new chicks thanks to Ashton our Farm technician. We have also just acquired two female goats, again thanks to Ashton, who are named Coco and Chanelle. I suspect the students may well rename these two!.
We will also be adding some ducks to our ever-growing menagerie. The students have started digging the hole for the pond liner that was kindly donated to us by Jade, our Finance Officer. We will be constructing an enclosure for the ducks with large picket fencing that we salvaged from the old school grounds.
Our sheep are thriving and just recently Mistletoe and Lucky were sheared. Our sincere thanks to Dee, a local sheep farmer, who very kindly came to school and undertook that for us. Holly and Penny are due to follow suit very soon.
Three of my Year 11students are known as “The Pink Ladies” as they all wear bright pink John Deere overalls. Holly, Sophie and Brooke were the first to sow the wildflower beds last year and have just done so again this year. To commemorate that I have had a plaque made to remember these amazing girls by as, sadly, they will be leaving us this year. Maisie and Alana in Year 10 will be taking up these reigns as they also wear the same bright pink overalls!
One of my Year 10 groups also planted a Cherry tree in the school grounds on Friday 8th May to celebrate the 100th birthday of Sir David Attenborough.
Jon Matthews
Tutor of Land Based Studies
