CEO opens new sensory garden at Drapers’ Pyrgo Priory School

On Wednesday 20^th September, pupils and staff gathered to celebrate the official opening of Drapers’ Pyrgo Priory School’s new sensory garden. Darren Luckhurst, CEO of Drapers’ Multi-Academy Trust, officially opened the new feature,which is positioned in the heart of the school in a courtyard space formally known as ‘the quad’. The courtyard was previously looked after by the school gardening club, but over recent years had become disused and overgrown.

In the Spring term, Mrs Salmon, a Teaching Assistant at Pyrgo Priory School, had the idea of creating a sensory garden for the pupils. With help from fellow volunteers Mrs Attwaters, Ms Watson and Mr Williams, the staff volunteered an hour of their own time after school every week clearing, repairing and refurbishing the courtyard area. The existing fishpond was emptied, cleaned and refilled and planters were repaired across the space.

In the Summer term, pupils in Year 1 planted seeds as part of their ‘meet the teacher’ event ready for the Autumn term. The garden is home to a range of plants and flowers including sunflowers, lettuce, radish, strawberries, tomatoes, peas, oregano, lemon balm, chives, mint, lavender and thyme. A new wooden windchime creates a soothing harmony and a sandpit containing phonics pebbles invites children to learn and play.

Everything in the garden has been carefully selected and planted to engage the pupils’ five senses. The colours, tastes, smells, sounds and textures of the garden provide a sensory learning environment that now plays host to lessons in subjects such as Science, Maths and Phonics.

Ms Salmon said: “The garden serves as a small sensory sanctuary for the children and has already attracted new wildlife, including birds, bees, caterpillars and butterflies. We now have fruit and vegetables that have grown over the summer for pupils to pick and eat. We are teaching the pupils about recycling and reuse and have saved some dried peas to re-plant next season”.    

The garden has become a huge hit with the teachers and pupils, seamlessly integrating itself into the school curriculum. Ms Prabhu, Year 1 teacher at Drapers’ Pyrgo Priory School said “We are already using the garden to enhance many areas of our teaching and learning. As well as being used for story time, pupils have been measuring rainwater and counting the number of fish, tomatoes and leaves that they see in the garden”.

Pupils are encouraged to help maintain the garden by feeding the fish, watering the plants harvesting the fruit and planting new seeds.

Darren Luckhurst “The new sensory garden is a fantastic addition to the primary school and we are already seeing the joy and learning benefits that the garden is bringing to our pupils. A big thank you to the staff that volunteered their time outside of school hours to make this happen.”