Sunday 23 December 2018

Merry Christmas and Thank You!

After a fabulously busy last week at school we have made it to the holidays.  There has been so much going on at the Academy this term - you might like to take a look at an entertaining video here:
Million Dreams video 

In the Garden we have had an amazing term.  Here are a few of our milestones:

  • Our Awards Ceremony attended by dignitaries including Beechgrove Garden’s Jim McColl
  • A showing of the pupil’s Halloween Movie attended by staff
  • Planting crocus bulbs with Rotary and the Interact group for their End Polio campaign 
  • Harvesting and looking after the garden
  • Keeping the RIDAN hot composter going
  • Working with Jo  a professional garden designer helping to design the Memorial Garden space
  • Having our Memorial garden funding bid go to a public vote
  • Making Christmas Gift Bags for gardeners (to sell to staff)!


We would like to thank ALL who contributed in any way whether it be buying produce, attending events, helping out or voting for us to win the £1000 from Corra foundation.  Your contribution and encouragement goes a very long way!

Personally I would also like to thank all my colleagues and my wonderful pupils who have brought the gardening courses to life with your efforts and ideas - you brighten my days and keep me on my toes!  I hope you all have a lovely holiday and recharge your batteries ready for more gardening and learning in 2019.


Monday 3 December 2018

Memorial Garden Funding bid Result!




Drum roll...and the winner is...

ELLON ACADEMY!



As you will be aware we have had two weeks of public voting for our Memorial Garden project.  We are very happy to announce that we won the Corra Foundation "Kindness" category so a huge THANK YOU to everyone who registered a vote! 

It was a real team effort.  We had votes coming in from all over the UK, Canada, China, France and Norway (and they're the ones we're aware of!).  It is wonderful that so many people thought the Memorial Garden is a worthwhile project.  

This means we will be awarded £1,000 to help get us started.  Watch this space to see how things develop in future!

Tuesday 20 November 2018

LetsChangeThat - Please vote for us!

This week our £1000 funding application goes live for public voting.
Voting closes at the end of next week.
This money would help with the Memorial Garden reflective space in our TEAM-CG project (The Ellon Academy Memorial Community Garden).

Please take 3 and a half minutes to watch our video to see what we are aiming for and if you like it VOTE FOR US and feel free to spread the link to friends, family, colleagues - anyone who you think would be interested to help!

Click here or on the picture above to watch the video and vote for us.  Thank You!


Tuesday 6 November 2018

Planting Crocus bulbs to End Polio!

On Friday 1st November the Interact group joined the EAGer Bunch to plant crocus bulbs into pots. Local Rotarian Edwin Duncan (centre) joined in.  
The bulbs were donated by Rotary as part of their End Polio Now campaign.
There was a great turnout...
...and we got many bulbs planted.
Thank you to the S4 boys for helping out and for everyone who joined in!  Keep an eye on the blog to see the purple flowers in the plant theatre next spring :)

Thursday 1 November 2018

Ellon Academy Garden of Horror!!!

There were spooky goings-on in the garden this Halloween Wednesday!
Pupils put on a showing of their "Ellon Academy Garden of Horror" Movie.
They worked hard to create posters and decorate the poly-tunnel with "spook-tacular" items...
...and invited staff to come and watch!
The event was great fun and many staff came to enjoy the show
It was a cold afternoon so we served them hot pumpkin soup first - home-made of course (thanks to the S2 boys)!
Mr Wilson came to see the S4 boys again, and was happy to don an apron and help with pop-corn!  Thank You Mr Wilson :)
He also had a little helper - Alice!  
We had lots of produce for sale...
 and the boys served drink and chocolate treats in the shed.
Everyone put on their "scary" faces!
A huge thank you to Mrs Nicholson for working with the boys to edit the movie and add fabulous sound effects!
Folks bought lots of freshly harvested produce...
and enjoyed the atmosphere.
We then invited everyone to take their seeds for the movie!
Afterwards, the stars were willing to be photographed with some of the guests!

Thank you to all who attended - as well as having great fun, we raised £21 (with a couple of IOUs still to come!) so that is great for our garden project!

Thursday 11 October 2018

Enjoying Garden Produce

We continue to harvest edible crops in the warm weather.
Here Ryan is washing potatoes (luxury eh?!) and sorting out produce boxes for staff.
Lewis harvests tomatoes...
...along with peppers and herbs to make pitta-bread pizzas.
There has been a lot of activity to tidy the place as winter approaches.  Collecting runner beans both to eat...
...and to collect seeds from the drier pods.
We've been continuing to weed the borders...
...and top them up with more soil.
The S2 class have started sowing broad beans...
for an early crop in spring.
The S4 class have also been learning how to split and divide perennial plants.  
This is a great way to keep them healthy whilst gaining more plants for free ☺
They topped up the new "long border"...
...dug in some fresh compost from our RIDAN hot composter...
...and planted the new plants into it.
It is important to water them really well to make sure moist soil is washed around the roots of the plants.  If the roots sit in an air pocket, they will die and the plant will suffer.
Talking of plants for free, S2 pupils have been learning how to take cuttings from the laurel bushes around the school campus.
They should take care of themselves in the ground over the winter and start to grow bigger in spring when we can transplant them somewhere else.
In other news, we CAUGHT A RABBIT!!  IN THE GARDEN!!  Oh dear, after three years they have worked out that they can dig into the steep bank in the woods behind the garden and burrow under our rabbit wire.  We released this little one and...
...cut some short lengths of new wire to put over the fresh holes in the woodland.  In time, we might have to lay wire along the whole length of the bank to prevent them getting in again - something of a mammoth task!
Talking of mammoth tasks, the council guys came in to clear all the weeds from the walled area.  It looks SO much better!  This will make it easier to develop into a reflective garden next year.
They were also happy to take away the old broken-down picnic bench and pallets to help tidy things up.

We break up this week for our October half term holidays.  So to everyone involved in the garden project - enjoy a restful break and re-charge your batteries ready for more hard work when we return!  Thank YOU too for visiting this blog and taking an interest in TEAM CG - The Ellon Academy Memorial Community Garden!

Tuesday 25 September 2018

Jim McColl at our Awards Ceremony

Back row: Head boy Calum Cumming, Ross Watson, Jim McColl, Colin Stirling Head teacher Mrs Pauline Buchan, Head girl Libby Copeman
Front row: Ryan Ellington, Ethan Allen, Shane Manders
We were all thrilled to be able to host gardening guru and Beechgrove Garden TV presenter Jim McColl on Friday 21st September.  He came with Colin Stirling (our Grow and Learn course moderator) to present the Awards to our S4 pupils.
The weather was somewhat challenging but we didn't let the wind and rain dampen our spirits!  In fact we had a wonderful time.
We were very happy to be able to use the two polytunnels - one for serving soup and sandwiches and the other for the actual ceremony.
Thankfully, the rain stopped so Dougal, Lewis and Jacob joined Jim and Colin on the patio.


There was time for parents and other guests to view the garden and chat to folk.
It was lovely to have so many people in the garden for such a special occasion.
Jim was very interested in all that we have been doing and enjoyed chatting to the boys.  It was great to see Mr Wilson back from the technology department chatting to them all as well - thanks for coming Mr Wilson!

We moved into the new polytunnel and the ceremony began.  Miss Swallow gave a speech to congratulate individual pupils for making the garden such a special place.  She was very happy to celebrate the Grow & Learn and ASDAN awards - both of which involved working in the garden.
She handed over to head teacher Mrs Buchan to talk about the ASDAN award.
Ethan was presented with a food hygiene certificate along with the ASDAN award...
...then Ellie-Mae went up to collect her ASDAN certificate.
Next, Mr Jim McColl was introduced and stood to present the Grow & Learn awards.
Jim was very impressed by the RIDAN hot composter - Ross had talked him through it whilst touring the garden.  Here, Jim presents Ross with the award.
One by one, everyone got presented with the Grow and Learn Award.


Jim then gave a speech himself talking about the virtues of gardening and how useful the skills pupils have been learning will be.

He was very entertaining.
At the end of the ceremony, Jim looked through the folders of work.
We also had a photo session so each pupil has a record of the special occasion.
A proud smile from everyone!

A huge thank you to all those who attended the ceremony.  You helped to make it a very special occasion that these youngsters will remember for a long time!
Another special thank you to head boy Calum who helped level the ground to lay boards for guests to keep their feet clean when moving between the two polytunnels.
The S2 group helped...
...then carried the chairs across...
...to set up the rows...
...and test them out of course!
We also completed our new TEAM CG sign to welcome people to the garden.
We also put one on the gate of the walled area which we will be designing, building and planting next!  Watch this space!! :)