Year 9 students at St Paul’s Academy are the pioneers of participating in the first Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award as we have become a Directly Licenced Centre. For the volunteering part of the award the Year 9 class have been working on the allotments to give them new life. The students have been clearing the weeds and replenishing the nutrients into the soil by introducing compost. They has also cleared the greenhouse ready to grow tomatoes and strawberries. Molly stated she is keen to “create a salad with tomatoes, lettuce and other ingredients as it is her favourite food”.
This is an important aspect of the Catholic ethos of the school by encouraging students to be stewards of their community as well as achieving an award that is sought by potential employers or further educational institutions.
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Clinton was also key with other boys in the group by transferring the rotten wood and other rubbish left in the shed to the skip. This will reduce the workload of the premise managers of the site.
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Katie and Ketsia dig up the weeds to prepare the ground for planting |
Eniola and Josephine dig the weeds out for Simao to rake |
Click below to play the video clip
Below you can see the activities of the other members of the DofE group. Molly, David and Jessica were fantastic stewards with helping to clean the greenhouse ready for growing summer vegetables and fruits.
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Janet using the hoe to rake in the compost to replenish the nutrients in the soil |
Molly, David and Jessica have worked hard to remove debris from the greenhouse ready to grow tomatoes next week |
Quotes from students:
The Year 9s have embraced the experience. Two students have quoted why it is important to them:
“A fun thing to be part of and involved in. This will support me further in life.” (Jessica Jordon).
“I was turning the soil to get rid of any weed and I would like to in the future grown potatoes.” (Ketsia Lueso).