In pictures: New climate change garden unveiled at Northampton primary school

A new climate change garden has been unveiled at a Northampton primary school in a bid to provide important green space to children.

The garden was opened at Briar Hill Primary School on Friday (June 9) after it was designed and co-ordinated by eco community group Save Our Street Trees and the school’s eco-lead Marie McGovern.

The eight-metre by 1.5-metre garden, which has been built on the tarmac leading to the school entrance, is created from recycled materials including a path made from old tiles, and a bench and planters made from pallets. A metal fence has been greened with shoe pockets of plants, and there is a wildlife habitat made from an upcycled writing table.

As well as aiming to “incorporate plants and practices that can better withstand and combat climate change”, the garden also aims to highlight how schools with dry and exposed locations, limited space and access to water can still provide important green space for pupils.

Marie said: "In our increasingly warming climate, school gardens have never been more important – but many schools struggle to maintain them due to costs, access to resources, blistering playground locations and the need to water during the summer holidays. Rather than try a one- size-fits-all approach, we wanted to find a way to bring a garden to Briar Hill that would be sustainable and have long-term impact for pupils.

“This has been an amazing project to work on. Staff, parents and volunteers from Save Our Street Trees have come together to build this garden and it has already created a real buzz among our pupils and their families. Seeing the children coming to top up the bee water stations at the end of each day and taking such interest in how things are growing has been wonderful.

"The garden has created an incredible space to promote our work on biodiversity, fitting in completely with our hopes for improving our school grounds. It’s a really special garden that we will take pride in nurturing for all our school community to enjoy.”

Take a look at the new climate change garden at Briar Hill Primary School with the photographs below.