The team at UK Land Estates have been sowing their generosity across the North East, after donating vegetable, herb and wild flower seeds to local schools.
After being left thousands of packets of flower seeds by a previous tenant, the team decided to share the spoils with schools across the region.
South Shields’ Epinay Business and Enterprise School is one of the lucky bunch to receive seeds and has been using the opportunity to encourage pupils to get green fingered and take pride in their outdoor areas.
Chris Rue, headteacher at Epinay, said: “The seed donation has presented a fantastic opportunity to get our students outside and try their hand at gardening.
“We had no idea what type of seeds or how many would come our way, so when we received hundreds of vegetable, herb and flower seeds we were in shock.”
After fundraising for their own horticulture area within the school, the staff and students were more than happy to sow the seeds in their vegetable garden and their Woodland Walk.
The school intend on using them to create healthy meals for students, and in lessons to show plant life cycles.
“Our ethos is preparing young people for adulthood, and with the seeds we can encourage our students to look after the gardens, as well as use them in lessons from reception to sixth form to show the germination process and how seeds grow,” Chris said.
“We have students who aren’t accessing national qualifications due to additional needs, so showing visually how things work, planting seeds, and seeing plant life stages will be really beneficial throughout the whole school.”
Adrian Bartle, construction director at UK Land Estates, said: “We’re proud to support our local community and strive, whenever we can, to do whatever we can to enhance children and young people’s school experiences, so it’s been a great project to be involved in.
“The donations will help the schools create fun, engaging spaces for their learners while giving them vital life lessons, so it has been a fantastic initiative to be part of.”
The school is set to plant the seeds in the coming weeks and will have a maintenance roster for staff and students to be hands on in looking after their gardens.
Epinay hopes the gardens will also make a difference in attracting organisations and potential investors, emphasising the importance of growing the school’s partners as well as the community.