Monday 6th February 2012 - Published by Rajmeena Aujla- Account Manager
Alan Titchmarsh Award for Milbourne Lodge's Blooming Success
A Surrey school has come up smelling of roses after winning a major Royal Horticultural Society (RSA) award.
Students and staff and Milbourne Lodge School in Esher were delighted when they learned their Centenary Garden project had been awarded the RSA’s top Campaign for School Gardening Benchmark 5 award.
The school has also won a special Alan Titchmarsh Award of £250, to be spent on developing the garden further
Before making the award the RHS scrutinised evidence from ‘Form 1 and 2’ garden journals, ICT pupil documentation, films, the school’s garden blog and students’ individual artwork.
An RHS spokesperson commented: "Many congratulations Milbourne! It's a great achievement. Only 58 schools out of 14,000 have passed the level 5 award.
“There was so much thought and hard work shown in the evidence. All pupils should be very proud of themselves. The RHS would like to make a Level 5 presentation at Milbourne Lodge in the near future and present the school with an RHS achievement plaque."
The award followed a family gardening day attended by more than 200 pupils, parents and staff members to promote the Centenary Garden.
The event, which formed part of the school’s submission to the RHS Campaign for School Gardening, involved building an eco-greenhouse created from 2012 Coca-Cola bottles and also featured digital photography competitions and a gift stall.
Commenting on the event, Milbourne Lodge School head teacher Stephen Ilett said: “We are so lucky to have a very talented and creative Art and ICT team who came up with this wonderful idea of building our own eco-friendly greenhouse. It was a wonderful day, which brought the whole school community together.
“Not only was it a huge amount of fun for all involved, but it has given the children, and us adults too, the experience of doing something completely different.”
