January 5, 2016

As part of our work on developing children's spirituality, we decided to develop the pre-existing storytelling area into a spiritual garden - a place of reflection and quiet where we could ponder life's big questions away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life!

The area was fenced off over the Summer to pave the way and a special assembly was held to introduce the idea to staff and children and to ask the children to help in designing the garden. Over the next few weeks, the children created some very exciting plans, some of which are on display in the hall.

I wrote to Castle Gardens in Sherborne who put me in touch with Angela Morley, a landscape designer, who draws up people's ideas and tries to make them reality! Angela spent a couple of mornings with me looking at the children's ideas and the available space and created some beautiful designs. This was funded by a grant from the Salisbury Diocese to help Church schools develop their existing resources.

This is the plan we agreed on.

We hope that in time the garden will be a real sensory explosion - a feast for the eyes, ears and noses. It will encourage children to look at life within and without. Our special looking pillar, donated by last year's Year 6 will take pride of place.

We are now going out to tender to obtain some quotes for the work. We will then be writing off for funding bids to make our dreams a reality!

Emma Grunnill