Newport Can Do gardening project: Part Two

Our Newport Can Do will be working with the staff and students of the ILS Department at Crosskeys Campus Coleg Gwent, to build an outdoor classroom and garden, thanks to the National Garden Scheme.

The garden will have an accessible path accessing all areas. There will be flowers and vegetables grown, which through the summer will be open to the public to do a summer sale.

The outdoor classroom and garden will also be open to the public to take part in community courses throughout the year. There will also be a small animal section of the garden. 

The outdoor classroom will be an eco- friendly construction, with plants that grow on the roof and down the sides; with the possibility of French doors to be open up throughout the warmer months.

This month, Rhianna, a student from the ILS department at Crosskeys College answered a few questions for us about the Garden Project.

Meet Rhianna

Hi Rhianna! Are you looking forward to doing the Garden Project that we will be doing at the top of the College?

Yes!

And what are you looking forward to most?

Working as a team with everybody in ILS. Working with support workers, teachers, and with students who come in on their care placements.

Yes we will be a big team working together. With the Garden, what do you think the benefits are going to be?

Learning lots of new skills, including caring for animals, gardening and planting in poly tunnels.

Yes we are going to have a big poly tunnel to grow all our plants and vegetables, which we can sell. What else are we going to grow our flowers in as well?

Raised flower beds.

Brilliant, thank you Rhianna.

Next steps

Over the last few weeks Carlton Building Solutions have been working extremely hard for us coming up with a plan for the outdoor classroom.

They have also been going to the college, measuring everything up for the transportation, accessibility, and delivery of the classroom.

With their plan for the classroom they have considered everything, from warmth, lighting, accessibility, door access and the layout of teaching. Everyone is extremely happy with the plan and really excited to see it when it’s finished and in place.

Next week MJ Landscapes and students from ILS will be starting their hard work fencing around the back of the garden, getting ready for the classroom to come in and everything being smartly fenced.

Matthew Jones owner of MJ Landscapes has said:

‘When Mrs Cole from Can Do phoned me to ask if I would like to get involved with this project, I jumped at the chance.

‘I’ve done a couple of outdoor learning projects with primary schools and they gave me a lot of satisfaction seeing the children utilising something I created for them. 

‘I can’t wait to start the National Garden Scheme Project and get the students involved in the build process so they feel their contribution has gone some way to making the project their own.’

We are all really excited with the progress that has been made, and seeing the garden and outdoor classroom start to take shape.