A new site, a new beginning...

In August 2015, Ellon Academy moved into the new site - Ellon Academy Community Campus.
It has great potential for garden projects and has already been landscaped with trees, bushes and plants that will mature over the years to create a lovely place.  Thankfully it is a flat site so we can develop areas to "grow our own" with relative ease.  Our main problem will be rabbits as there are LOTS of big strong ones that roam the site particularly when school is finished for the day!

It may seem as though not much has happened between August and now, but there has been a lot of activity in the background.  Hopefully you will soon start to see the results of this planning and work as the Spring arrives and we can get out and active in the garden spaces.

Below is a summary of various projects presently on the go (photos are anonymous until permissions are gained):

EAGer bunch
Memorial Garden
Compost Challenge
Rememberance
Trees from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE)

EAGer Bunch - Ellon Academy Gardeners
The lunchtime club is now up and running - every Friday.  We have basic tools in our new shed and a poly-tunnel frame that needs a little more preparation work before it is ready for the cover to go on.

Measuring the new Vegetable Garden plot

Anchor points for the poly-tunnel hoops needed digging in well.  Hard work!  A huge thanks to Liz our volunteer for her help!

The basic frame is up and has already withstood severe winds.

From this....

...to this...

Building storage to keep tools organised.

...Treating the timber for a long life ahead!

Pupils from the ASDAN classes have already started to treat the shed and...

Pallet breaker tool makes the job easier.  Claw hammers to remove nails.

 ...S5 volunteers have started taking pallets apart - we plan to use the free wood to build picket fences.  Once the wire netting fence is in place to prevent rabbits getting in, the wood can be placed on top to make a pleasant looking fence.

A productive ASDAN lesson!

Pupils have also started planting native hedges provided by the Woodland Trust.  These will help to delineate different garden spaces.

Funding for the equipment, shed and polytunnel has come from the ASfL department and a £500 Health Improvement Fund.

Memorial Garden
A 16 by 26 metre area was walled as part of the new school build.  It will be developed as a quiet reflective space to remember lost pupils and staff.  Pupils held a Dress-down Day during October
2015 and raised just over £1,300 for buying plants, seating etc.  Currently however the area is very wet and muddy so nothing has been done except a little weeding of dock plants.

S5 volunteers attack the weeds

A funding bid has been put in to Tesco so please watch this space!

Compost Challenge
An "Access to Education" grant has been awarded for us to create compost sites around the school and design an orienteering-style activity around them.  This can be used as a one-off Outdoor Learning Activity or as part of our Primary Transition program in future for P7 pupils to get to know the site.  We will have traditional compost heaps, turf piles, leaf mold heap, comfrey stew (watch this space for more detail!), nettle tube and a hot composter that we are very excited about.  The hot composter is a RIDAN just like the one installed at Dingwall Academy:

RIDAN composter

It means we will in time recycle all our canteen waste along with sawdust from the Technology Department.  Pupils will maintain it which means filling daily, weighing what goes in and out and monitoring the temperature for optimum performance.  It is due to be delivered before the Easter break.

Remembrance

Braving cold weather to enhance the school plaza

Last October and November, various pupils sowed poppy seeds near the school gates in preparation for Remembrance.  They should make a lovely welcome for pedestrians in the summer months.

Trees from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
As part of the "Schools for the Future" campaign, the Scottish Government is gifting a native tree to every new school site in Scotland.  An S5 pupil accompanied Miss Swallow to Edinburgh for a tour of the garden and tree nursery.  He found the day fascinating and also came away with a pair of Monkey Puzzle trees.  We must keep them in the poly-tunnel for three years to give them a good start, then we will plant them out to make an eye-catching feature of botanical interest.

Martyn Dickson from the RBGE shows us around.

Martyn will bring the native tree (species yet to be confirmed) in the Spring.  He will work with pupils to plant them - again, watch this space!