REPTON PREP RECEIVES RHS LEVEL 5 GARDENING AWARD

Repton Prep's Eco Committee have achieved the RHS Level 5 gardening award as part of an ongoing school initiative to promote sustainability and green initiatives.

The RHS Campaign for School Gardening gives young people the opportunity to connect with nature and improve their physical and mental wellbeing and understanding of the environment whilst further enriching the school curriculum and extra-curricular opportunities.  

A lunchtime gardening club was established at Repton Prep in September 2022 as part of the Eco Committee and has proved hugely popular with pupils as they quickly learnt new skills and saw improvements to their general wellbeing.  

Working their way through the RHS levels, the children have prepared, planted and weeded vegetable beds before eventually harvesting the produce to be enjoyed at lunchtime. Fruit peelings and cores leftover from lunch are now composted to improve soil quality and a collaboration with the Science Department has seen the introduction of a wormery, allowing pupils to study worms’ reactions to different soil types as part of a topic on adaptations. 

In order to achieve the top Level 5 award, pupils were required to demonstrate gardening within the community and so we joined forces with our friends at St Wystan’s, Repton, to prepare and plant this year’s crop. We look forward to inviting them back later in the growing season to enjoy the fruits of our labour together! 

Repton Prep is fortunate to have extensive grounds where pupils can access green fields, woodland areas, lake, ponds and allotments; participating in schemes such as the RHS campaign for school gardening maximises our pupils’ experience beyond the curriculum, allowing real world connections to be made outside the classroom. 

Learn more about the extra curricular offering at Repton Prep here.