School’s ‘keep active’ garden is hit with MP
FORGET football, netball and rounders, a primary school has introduced gardening to its sports agenda to get more kids active.
Nether Alderley Primary School has been given £1,000 from a sports charity to help create a gardening club and help improve physical activity rates among its pupils.
The school identified the need to encourage children who don’t currently engage in traditional sports to become more active, and came up with the idea of a gardening club – which is so popular that even Tatton MP George Osborne dropped in to have a look.
Richard Craven, headteacher at Nether Alderley Primary, said: “This has been a great project for our children and volunteers alike and the support we have received from Active Cheshire has been invaluable.
“The whole school is benefitting from using the new garden and it has made a great impact on everyone who has seen it.”
As well as creating a beautiful new garden and getting club members and the local community physically active, the space has benefited the welfare of the entire school, who now use the new garden as an outdoor learning facility. The grant, from ‘Active Cheshire, Active Anywhere’, was specifically used to provide gardening equipment for the children and volunteers to use.
Anne Boyd, CEO of Active Cheshire said: “It is vital that we instil the habit of exercise within children at an early age, and encourage those who do not enjoy traditional sports to try other kinds of physical activity.”
Mr Osborne said: “Nether Alderley’s school garden is a brilliant initiative. The pupils have worked hard to create a beautiful outdoor space and really enjoy the exercise.”