Certificate Celebrations and Staff Pizza lunch

 

Anyone for pizza?

Today, the senior hub boys and members of the exec. team hosted a pizza lunch for staff.

Clarissa stretched out the dough and added sauce then Dougal was in charge of veggie toppings...

...further along the line, Jacob topped them with meat and cheeses, whilst Molly kept the ovens topped up with wood pellets.

Jacob also brought in his own HOT sauce, for those who dared to try it!

The dough was made by the Gaff in Ellon and delivered to us, so a big thank-you to them.

Staff were welcomed at the gate by Harrison and Darren...

...to the Gruffalo Flash Pizzaria "where fantasy and fun come to life!"

At the end of course, the team were rewarded with pizza for themselves!

Lewis helped prepare the garden...

...thanks to the Junior hub boys too for helping get things ready beforehand...

...and the Nurture hub pupils for preparing the toppings the day before.

Jacob and Dougal tuck in...

...Darren enjoys some quiet time at the end of the day.

CERTIFICATE CELEBRATION

Our other big event last Tuesday was an afternoon of informal fun.  Mrs Russell came in to award the senior hub boys their ASDAN certificates with family members present to enjoy the occasion.

Sandy, our volunteer also awarded Sean his Grow and Learn Roots award

Thanks to Sophie and Darcy for washing down the benches beforehand...

...and the Junior Hub boys for baking the cup cakes!

Games were spread around the garden and there were refreshments for everyone to enjoy.  "Pin the tail on the bunny!"

Dougal plays skittles

Darren drew us a hopscotch...

...and everyone enjoyed watching folk play the giant jenga!

OTHER NEWS

Meanwhile in the Memorial Garden, the lunchtime "EAGerBunch" have kept on with the weeding, planting and mulching.  Scott is also our time-keeper to make sure we are not late back into class!

Sean is also becoming a dab-hand at digging up dock and thistle weeds!

Humanities classes came out to sow wild flower seeds around our gabion seating area.  The seeds were bought with NESCAN funding (North East Scotland Climate Action Network) so a huge thank you to them.  The seed mix will encourage more pollinators, being a mix of annual and perennial flowers.

Findlay and Duncan cut the grass and have been planting and watering to help plants settle in.

The tulips have looked lovely.

We have continued to catch rabbits to remove them from the garden...

...and to feed our birds.

Latest news

 There haven't been many posts lately, but work has not stopped in the gardens!

The lunch-club has made good progress weeding the central border in the Memorial Garden.  We are now planting and mulching as we go, to keep the weeds in check and hopefully have lovely summer blooms!

Just before the Easter break, Miss S helped Peter finish assembling the new bench.

Lots of people have enjoyed testing it out.

The S1 garden group have been busy tidying...

...and generally preparing for spring.

We have planted onions and sown lettuce.

Back at the end of January, we joined in the National RSPB "Big Garden Birdwatch"

We have been feeding the birds and have many nesting nearby now.

We have also put up a bee house...

...it has red mason bee cocoons in it; we are waiting for these solitary bees to hatch.

Talking of wildlife, we have also been trapping rabbits that have got into the garden!  Four to date, and we know there's at least one more to catch before we can start sowing our spring crops.

On the last day of term before Easter, staff enjoyed some daffodils from our wildlife garden on the tables in the staff room.

Tesco "spring" a surprise on us!

Thank you to Tesco who donated a box of unsold spring bulbs to the Ellon Academy Garden project.

S1 boys got going this afternoon and planted out lots of tulips, daffodils and crocus bulbs.  It's a bit late in the season, but watch this space to see if they flower once spring really gets underway!

Christmas Gifts and some Great News!

Jacob and Harrison delivered our "Gifts for Gardeners" boxes to staff who had put in orders.

We "recycled, reused" where possible and included a hand made ceramic coaster, mug and tea/biscuit for busy gardeners to enjoy along with plant labels, gloves, pencil, twine and lots of our own harvested seeds (we hope some of them germinate!).  A huge thank you to all that bought a box!

In other exciting news, we have recently been judged "Joint NATIONAL Winner" by Keep Scotland Beautiful, for their "Involving Children and Young People" discretionary award.  Well done to everyone past and present who has worked in the garden to help us reach this point.  This is fabulous recognition of all we have achieved and I'm very proud of you all!

Have a wonderful holiday, and I look forward to seeing you all in the New Year!
 

"sNOw" reason not to be in the garden!

 Just before the school closed early due to snow on Tuesday, the EAGer Bunch were out in the garden for lunch.  It was like a snow cave in the polytunnel class-room!

We turned the RIDAN hot composter to keep it going...

...then had some fun, building our own snowman!

It even helped us sweep the snow 😂😂