Greening Bramble Infant School and Nursery

Our Project in a Nutshell

The aim of our project is to turn the school grounds into a green oasis for the children, the community and the local wildlife. By doing this we want the kids to develop a love for nature and a passion to protect it.

To achieve this we want to add vegetable beds, a water meadow / bog garden, fruit trees in pots, a mixed native hedge and planters around the site. We also want to involve the Pre school children in the Early Years Sustainability Award Scheme and get staff trained in Forest schools and Outdoor Learning.

Our school and nursery is on a very typical inner city site. The ratio of concrete to green space is roughly 90:10 %. What's perhaps less typical is that we have a large amount of space that has lots of wonderful possibilities! We just need a bit of a cash injection and some publicity to really get our project underway!

What we want for the children:

We want the children to take an active role in the project, from the planning process to getting their hands dirty with the digging and planting.

By passing on a love of nature and some the basic gardening skills we want to inspire them to create their own green areas. Whether that's a window box or an allotment plot!

We also want children to understand the importance of nature in fighting climate change and develop a passion to protect wildlife and its habitats. With this in mind we want to train staff members to deliver some of the latest approaches in outdoor curriculums such as Forest or Beach School or Early Years Sustainability Citizenship.

What we want for the Community:

We want to create a project that involves the community. By creating a greener space with more plants and trees we hope to have a positive effect on the air quality in the area, and inspire other local organisations to follow suit.

We will also involve the local community by inviting them to join a school gardening group that will maintain the new trees, water meadow and raised beds. We particularly want to attract parents and residents who don't have a garden space of their own, to come and share ours. We already have some expert gardeners on board, who are willing to share their enthusiasm, skills and knowledge.

Finally, via our partnerships with Wilder Portsmouth and Portsmouth Climate Action Board, we would like to develop a blueprint for other schools and organisations to green their premises.

What we want for the wildlife:

At the moment the children are excited to find a snail in the garden and most could probably identify a seagull.

But these visitors rarely stick around for very long!

If we could entice a wide range of birds, insects and frogs or toads to take up home in our outdoor spaces it would be a testament to how well our project is contributing to the planet but could also inspire the next Greta Thunberg or David Attenborough!!

The Plan:

Here are our initial ideas for what we want to do and how we would like to spend the money.

Add cherry / apple trees in pots, and honeysuckle vines to the nursery area.

Create a water meadow / bog garden area to attract dragonflies and toads

Plant a mixed native hedge of hawthorn, crab apple and hazel along the border of the playground, that will have blossom in spring and fruit / berries in autumn for the birds, bees and butterflies

Add edible vegetables, salad and herbs to the soil planters in the nursery and courtyard

Enhance the wildlife areas with bat and bird boxes

Train staff in Forest School Education / Outdoor Learning so it can become a core part of the school ethos

Add planters with wildflowers and grasses to the front of the school

Organise a volunteer gardening group made up of parents, staff, and local residents who will maintain the new trees, water meadow / bog garden and planters. (We particularly want to offer this to local residents who don't have their own gardens)


The more we raise the more we can do!