Stirling Secondary Autism Provision

Thyme for Tea and Cake

This garden of celebration is based on our school turning 90 this year.  We have chosen to celebrate with tea and cake.  Our design includes edible plants such as Mint, Thyme, and Chamomile as these can be used to make tea.  We have included plants in our design that are attractive to wildlife and will support pollination of our strawberry plants.

Tasty strawberries

Repurposed teacup

Mint growing in teapot

Our community has supported our project with donations of pallets, wood, cable drum, teapot, teacups, plants, and the most precious gift of all, time.

At the end of term, we are having a strawberry tea to celebrate the achievements of all our young people. We hope to make jam with strawberries, for our scones, and use Mint to add flavor to our refreshments. We will also explore making different flavors of tea using Thyme and Chamomile.

The compost will be repurposed within our outdoor space and the pallet will be used to create a new compost bin.

The mosaic ‘plate’ made from the cable drum will be recycled into a table that can be used in our outdoor classroom.

Young people have learned many life skills as they created the garden, and the importance of nurture within nature.

The project follows our creative curriculum, where learning for sustainability is embedded throughout all that we do, it supports young people to be curious about their learning.  Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths underpin the strawberry planting experiments which have taken place to grow our strawberries.  Young people have planted strawberries outside in the ground using traditional methods of growing. They have plants in recycled growbags within our polytunnel, they have upcycled wellington boots to plant strawberries, learning about drainage and how the soil breathes.  Young people have explored more modern growing methods, such as vertical planting and how this may increase capacity within a space, and yield a higher return of produce.

The planting within our pocket garden is a reflection of our slow pedagogy, giving plants the time and space to grow.  In the same way that young people need time and space to learn.

Garden Design

Creating the garden – from design to reality