Due to the creation of the Secret Garden, Winchester House School has started to embrace outdoor learning. When an area of land next to the school became available some of the staff immediately saw the potential to create a fantastic outdoor learning environment.  Year 4 got straight to work designing a wildlife garden and different areas were created as a result. Mrs Patey held a ‘Get your Grown-ups Growing’ event where the volunteers planted around 400 different bulbs, along with around 40 bushes and trees donated by parents, a local plant nursery and the Woodland Trust. They now have a wildlife garden, a pond, a bug hotel, a vegetable patch, several flower beds, a rubble heap, a long grass area, lawn areas and a fire pit.

Although Year 4 initially used the garden the most, other years and subjects soon caught on and now the area is used for a variety of other activities:

- The Pre-Prep have story time on the lawn when the weather is fine and make fat cakes to hang in the garden to feed the birds. They recently found the Gruffalo hiding in the garden and had tea and sandwiches with him.

- The art department draw and paint in the garden and are planning to create some willow sculptures.

- The English department use it for creative writing, poetry inspiration and outdoor reading.

- The science department enjoy pond dipping, going on mini beast hunts and looking for food chains.

- Last year, the scholars took on a project to look at the viability of keeping bees in the garden.

- The gardening club, leadership and survival skills activities are run in the Secret Garden and the D&T activity created bug boxes and bird boxes to encourage wildlife into the garden.

- Dads & Dens and Get your Grown-ups Growing events are also held in the garden. These events are an opportunity for parents and their children to create dens together, cook over open fires and also learn about growing and planting.

All the Pre-Prep year groups now have a session in the garden on a rota. Year 5 have just started having a weekly environmental studies lesson this year and are working on a project to create several bug hotels to place around the school grounds. Year 4 have a timetabled environmental studies lesson every week where they learn about environmental issues and related topics with a hands-on approach both in and outside the classroom. The Secret Garden plays a large part in all this but all of the school grounds are now used regularly for lessons which range from:

- Gathering seeds, nuts and berries.

- Identifying trees, bushes, bulbs and flowers.

- Feeding wild birds and taking part in the RSPB Big School’s Birdwatch.

- Wildlife spotting and identifying tracks in the snow.

- Collecting conkers to make models.

- The children also cover current event topics such as Hugh’s Fish Fight, Fair-Trade Fortnight and Marine Mammal Month.

The school is now using the Secret Garden and the environmental studies lessons to work towards achieving their silver Eco-Schools Award, with a view to gaining their Green Flag in the future.