First of all, we would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has helped us during our project. We have been so luckily with all the donations and assistance we have been offered over the last 8 months. The success of our project would not of been achieved without everyone who has helped us. We are so thrilled that our hard work combined with many generous people has come together to provide an outdoor educational area for all children at Stedham to use.
It had finally dawned on us that this was our last day finishing the outdoor area. We knew that we only had to finish off the minor details. After getting to the school at 8am, we knew we had all day to make sure the area was fully complete by the afternoon. We started by hanging up the mosaic. This was a much easier task than we originally thought. Once this was completed, we got started on adding the glass pots to the fence. Originally we planned for these to be filled with soil, but Jack thought that they would be great holders for the magnifying glasses. We proceeded with this idea and unanimously agreed to it being a much better idea than we previously had.
We were aware that the garden had an opening, therefore stones would easily be spread around onto the grass outside the fence. Luckily, we had some tubing which could be laid in the entrance to stop this from happening. We had to dig a small channel to make sure it would not move before packing it back in. Once, this was fitted it prevented the stones escaping every time we entered or left the area.
Our last major job to complete was to paint the well. Roberto and Jack painted it whilst Harvey cleared any fallen leaves and twigs from the area. We knew that once this was finished, the garden would almost be complete.
Also to help make the edge of our area look less muddy and more presentable, Roberto and Harvey had the bright idea of re-purposing an old piece of AstroTurf which the school no longer needed into a walkway at the entrance of the area. Harvey then decided that to further make the garden edge area look less muddy, we should cut the AstroTurf as a semi-circle. Once Harvey had finished laying the AstroTurf at the entrance of the garden and the grass seed had been laid, we then gathered together to ensure that we had everything ready for the assembly, which we would be leading at the end of the school day. This was something that we felt was very important in order to help make the outdoor area more of a success, as we can make it clear to the pupils and staff at the school what the area is and how they can use it in the future. In order to help portray this, we showed all of the staff and pupils a short video which Roberto had put together of our time building the area. After this, we then presented the school with a number of different books about bugs and gardening. We finally presented certificates to the pupils that had helped to make the bugs hotel.
Unfortunately, with our project area originally being grass/mud and having to dig many holes for the fence/pergola, the area outside the fence has become extremely muddy and uneven. Before our project started it was mainly grass. We do not want to leave the school unlike how it was before, therefore we have been able to get some grass seed, which we planted outside the fencing to create a cleaner and more child friendly area. We will need to make sure the school are aware of this and try to protect the area until the grass has grown. Although, this will require some maintenance by the school we feel that it is the best option and it is also putting the area back to how it originally was prior to us starting.
Once the assembly had finished and our thank you's to the pupils for their hard work towards the area were said, it dawned on us that we still had to figure out a way to dispose of the ton bag of rubbish that we had been collecting over the course of the project. In retrospect, leaving all our rubbish in a ton bag to be cleared right at the end was not the best move we have made. However, we knew it had to be done. We had some old bags which we kept, so we needed to sieve through the original bag of rubbish to sort out all the garden waste from general waste. Once we had loaded all three of our cars up, we followed Jack to a local recycling centre. After Jack drove straight past the recycling centre, we all had to turn around. This is where we lost Jack for 10 minutes. Harvey and Roberto pulled off and parked their cars ready to unload, Jack was nowhere to be seen. It wasn't until we got a phone call from him saying he got lost. After we redirected Jack to the recycling centre, we were all able to unload the rubbish from our boots.
We returned to the school to pick up all our remaining tools. Before we left for the final time, we said thank you to the head teacher for all the help she had offered us throughout our project.
It must be mentioned that the building of an outdoor area, which will be used to develop the education of children, has been a fulfilling experience and one we will all remember for years to come.
