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HS PLUS PATHFINDER CASE STUDIES – SUGGESTIONS FOR HEADINGS TELL THE STORY OF YOUR HS PLUS WORK

• Background to your school and circumstances Mevagissey is a small primary school on Cornwall's south coast. Currently there are 106 pupils in the school. The large school grounds are very exposed and on sunny days, due to the layout, the field and the playground are in full sun all day. The school had a small science garden, each class being allocated four plots measuring 120cm by 120cm. Use of these plots has been erratic; in some school years some were not used at all.

• Priority Areas (What priority area(s) did you choose?) Sun safety. Growing our own produce.

• What was the need? Why did you do what you did? There was an urgent need to provide more shaded areas around the school grounds. We wanted to make the children more aware of healthy eating and encourage them to grow and eat their own produce.

• What did you do? Describe the activity. A new gazebo, big enough to hold 30 children, was built near the garden. The children make good use of it at playtimes and lessons are also held in it. We held assemblies about sun safety and this has now been put into the overview of work in PSHE at the end of the spring term so that the children are prepared for the summer weather. Using the SIMS registration programme, the school secretary now has the means to comment if a child is off school due to sunburn. Although a gardening club had been held during the summer of 2009 it had not been very successful, due to poor quality soil and an excess of uncontrollable weeds. The school caretaker raised the beds of all the plots and made boxes for the grow-bags. The weeds were killed over the winter period. One parent acquired 12 tons

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of topsoil, which a whole band of people - staff, parents and pupils - transported by wheelbarrow from the car park to the garden. Another parent provided horse manure from the stables where she rides and this was dug into the soil. The children planted a variety of seeds. Some were brought on indoors in the corridors (which are floor to ceiling glass and get sun most of the day) and others were planted straight out into the plots. The plants were tended by both the gardening club and one of the classes. As the produce ripened the children sold it to parents, setting up a stall at the end of the day. During the first two weeks of the summer holiday, two parents who were involved with the gardening club took it in turns to come into school with their children to water the garden and pick the produce. I then continued this for the rest of the holiday. Excess produce was sold in my shop, the village post office. One café couldn't get enough of our courgettes! At the start of the autumn term we had a surplus of green tomatoes and courgettes so the children made chutney from them. They also picked beetroot and onions and some brought fruit in from their gardens to make jam. A local artist donated grapes from his vine and the children made grape jelly. Using some of the courgettes they made courgette and chocolate cake. All this produce was sold at the autumn fair. The children realised more than £200 from their sales. The pumpkins were a great success. The gardening club bought one each for £1 and were given recipes for pumpkin soup, pumpkin curry and pumpkin pie so that they could make a three course meal from the insides. They then carved the pumpkin for Hallowe'en and brought it back to be entered into the competition. Everyone who entered was given a hyacinth bulb kit and there were prizes for second, third and fourth. Some of the gardening club parents donated prizes.

• Who did you work with and why did you choose them? (Classes? Year groups? Whole school? Who were you Children in Challenging Circumstances (CICCs)?

The work on the gazebo involved clearing the area where it was going to be sited. Parents and children volunteered and came to do it over a weekend. The work on the garden was carried out by the gardening club (held on Thursdays after school). Children from years 3-6 were eligible to join this club. Daily watering was carried out by those club members who were in my class. A water butt was purchased to catch rainfall, making the project even more eco-friendly. Our challenging children were those prone to sunburn and those who do not have a healthy diet. The whole school were present for the sun safety assemblies and were encouraged to bring sun cream and hats or caps to wear at playtimes and for outdoor PE.

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All the children who have packed lunch took part in the healthy lunchbox survey. The Buddies from Year 6 entered this onto The Healthy Lunchbox site.

• Where did you start from? (about your baselines) Only 28.5 square metres of shade was available in the grounds, allowing space for only 47 children to be able to sit out in the sun. The school garden was in a poor state, crops were neither growing nor producing fruit or vegetables.

• Describe the steps along the way that helped achieve the outcomes (about the ESIs). Were they useful milestones along the way to achieving your outcomes.

To create shade. An area had to be cleared to allow space for the gazebo. Parents and pupils volunteered to come in over a weekend to do this. The gazebo was constructed by a professional firm. Money from both the travel plan and the first instalment of Healthy Schools was used for this. To develop the garden. The school caretaker raised the beds. Topsoil was donated and both pupils and parents moved it from the car park to the garden. Some parents came to gardening club each week. Children were encouraged to try the produce they had grown and were given recipes to make meals out of them. The milestones were useful in that as the work developed in both areas the children became excited about the projects and this inspired them to be involved.

• Where did you get to? (achieving your outcomes) What difference did it make to the children? (impact) The So What? question

More shade is now available to the children and it is well used at playtimes. The gazebo allows for outdoor lessons and has proved useful in science and literacy in particular. In the summer the PTA used the gazebo to sell ice-creams from on Thursdays after school. The gardening club has inspired many of the children to grow produce at home - one even asked for a greenhouse for Christmas! Trying the crops they have grown has encouraged them to eat things they may not have tried before.

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• What went well? What were the highs and lows? What could have been different / better? What were the problems and challenges? Were there any unexpected outcomes? (Good or otherwise)

One of the high points was the sense of teamwork that was created. When we began to move the topsoil it was on a very wet Thursday afternoon. Everyone was soaked and very muddy but no-one complained and there was a lot of laughter. The children were very proud of their achievements. They worked hard with the gardening, the cooking and the selling, certainly enjoying and achieving as the Every Child Matters agenda asks! The low point was the fact that we were unable to get the Food For Life bronze award. The stumbling block was the issue of the use of eggs from caged birds. Although we tried to get our school meals provider, Chartwells, to change to free-range eggs we were unable to achieve this.

• Capture the work in the words of those that took part – children, parents, teachers, school staff.

See the testimonials from the people who took part.

• Can you add photos and artefacts to enhance the story? See photos.

• Where are you going next with this work or other priority areas? How will you sustain the work and maintain capacity for the future?

Using the money from the sale of produce and with a donation from the PTA we've purchased a poly-tunnel. This will enable the gardeners to plant crops earlier and bring them on before transplanting out. It will also be used by all the classes. The children are looking forward to growing things again and work has begun on preparing the beds for this year. Discussions have taken place about which crops were the most and least successful and what new ones to try.

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The next project for shade is to cover the pergola with sail cloth to create another sitting area which will be used in the shade. The second instalment of Healthy Schools money will be used for this. The Buddies have devised a questionnaire about sun safety which will be carried out before the sun safety lessons in PSHE. The school secretary will then monitor any incidences of sunburn through the summer. The children in years 5 and 6 will take part in the healthy lunchbox survey again, following work carried out by a student school nurse to wee whether there has been any impact.