10
My Green School
Communal garden: The communal garden is an extension to the playground. This is a grassed space bounded by hedgerows. It has gates that open up onto the public park in front of the school. This garden is separated from the playground by railings and a tall gate. This gate is opened on sunny days during playtimes.
The caretaker’s house: The school caretaker’s house faces the allotment gardens of the school. She has a well-kept garden and the children seemed to see her as an ‘expert gardener’.
‘Green’ features: The features mentioned by children included: air vents, skylights, using rainwater to flush the toilets, water butts to collect rainwater for the plants, birdhouses, a pond on the green roof. In addition to this the school’s electricity is generated using geothermal energy from pipes laid beneath the park towards the south of school, as captured in the photograph on the left.