Spring has sprung at an Ashington primary school following a generous donation from a local garden centre.

Wansbeck Garden Centre has kindly pledged hundreds of bedding plants to Bishop’s Primary School’s Josephine Butler Campus for use in its flower garden.

The flower garden, which is tended by pupils as part of the school’s ‘Gardening Gang’ is the centrepiece of the Academy Road-based campuses’ outdoor space; which also comprises a potted courtyard, a poly tunnel and an allotment area, complete with its own chickens, rabbit and ducks.

Using the donated plants, the children decided to update a planted version of the school’s logo using a mix of Stokesia and Lobelia to capture the purple and yellow colours of the Bishop’s crest.

“Our Gardening Gang is an immensely popular part of our enrichment and mental health and wellbeing programmes at Josephine Butler,” said Mrs Clare Marriott, Head of Campus at Bishop’s Primary School – Josephine Butler Campus.

“The children enjoy working outdoors and seeing the difference that their work makes to the garden. It’s also a great opportunity for us to teach the children about the importance of looking after the natural world around them.

“We’re incredibly grateful to the staff at Wansbeck Garden Centre for their kind donation of so many flowers! It’s really allowed our children to be creative and we’ve had so many compliments from staff and parents about the work the children do outdoors. These generous donations mean we can continue to develop our curriculum and the community links that are so important to us.”

Nic Crofts, Plant Manager at Wansbeck Garden Centre, commented:

“At Wansbeck Garden Centre, we pride ourselves on being an active part of our local community and regularly work with schools and other not-for-profit groups.

“We’ve had an unseasonably cold start to the year, which has meant that many of our plants which would usually have gone flying off the shelves have been sitting in our greenhouses. We would rather see these go to good use than get wasted, so we were delighted to support Josephine Butler’s Gardening Gang with their flower display.”

Bishop’s Primary School – Josephine Butler Campus operates as part of Northumberland Church of England Academy Trust (NCEAT).

For more information, visit www.ncea.org.uk.