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Kew Gardens

Broomfield is so fortunate to be on the doorstep of Kew Gardens. The science that lies behind one of the world’s greatest botanical gardens is very relevant to our curriculum and their beauty enables the children to enjoy themselves as they learn. As part of the current science curriculum our Year 4 students attend 6 Kew-led workshops at the gardens each year and students from other classes make numerous visits.  Our links with Kew Gardens reached a new high in 2019 when we won £1000 in a Kew Endeavour Platform competition. We were delighted when Abi, Isabella and Karmen from Year 5 won first prize and representatives from Kew came to Speech Day to present a cheque that was nearly as large as the recipients.

The First Kew Gardens Endeavour Ambassador School

In 2018/2019 Broomfield was invited to become Kew Gardens’ first Endeavour Ambassador School and to pilot test their Endeavour platform.  This is an online teaching resource developed by Kew with Lottery funding, involving plant science challenges for Key Stage 2 and 3 children.  Our teachers and KS2 students trialled exciting new materials relevant to the science curriculum and fed back our thoughts on them and on a new KS2 course to be taught in Kew Gardens.

A Royal Visit To Kew

In 2017, Broomfield staff and students were invited to greet HRH the Prince of Wales, the new Patron of Kew Gardens, on a visit there. The children were given a science lesson about Plant Explorers: Past and Present and the Prince observed the children reporting back on what they had learned, before chatting to them about why he loves Kew Gardens.

Previous Initiatives With Kew Gardens

A BBC2 series presented by the renowned chef, Raymond Blanc, called Kew on a Plate, was filmed at Kew Gardens in 2013, with two of our Year 5 children taking part. In 2010 our Year 5 students attended the launch of Kew’s campaign to promote peat free compost. The then Cabinet Minister, Hilary Benn, came to talk with our children and together they potted seeds from the Kew Seed Bank using peat free compost.  In 2004, we worked with Kew staff to engage children in learning the science and practice of gardening, working on an allotment alongside their horticulture students. This led to the development of our school vegetable patch and Gardening Club which continues to this day, producing radishes, tomatoes, potatoes, rhubarb and herbs etc, which our Chef uses in school lunches!  The club also ensures we have plants and flowers to cheer us as we move around the school grounds.

Here are Annabel and Stephan in 2005, with the gigantic pumpkin grown in the Broomfield allotment at Kew Gardens.