Year 7 students from UVHS working towards their John Muir Awards, spent time at Ford Park before they broke up for the summer.
Hazel, our gardener and Moray, our Volunteer Coordinator had 2 laughter filled days with 180 year 7 students as part of enrichment week. Having spent some time exploring the park with their teachers, they then worked alongside Hazel and Moray to experience what it’s like to work and volunteer at the park.
The children were really enthusiastic and couldn’t wait to get their hands dirty. They loved the composting area and were busy sieving compost, they planted seeds, cut back in some areas of the garden and made the most amazing bug hotel.
Moray told us that “The children were all good natured, keen to get involved and a real credit to themselves, their families, and the school. The 2 days were so well organised by the school, and we look forward to welcoming them back soon”.
Aswell as year 7’s we had 3 year 12 students on work experience for a week. They missed out before due to Covid so jumped at the chance to join the Ford Park team for a few days.
Moray said “The work experience students were hard working, had wonderful attitudes and really got stuck in and made a real difference to everything they tackled in the park.”
During the week they spent with us they cleared parts of the woodland path, weeded the garden (a mammoth task), emptied bins, carried out playground checks and learned about natural park management from our team. They even attended our team strategy meeting and had lots of ideas about the future of Ford Park.
It was a wonderful week, and we enjoyed having all the students learning about the park and experiencing for themselves how much work goes into maintaining and developing Ford Park for the community.
And who knows, some of these students may well be back at Ford Park as volunteers in a years time.
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