In previous masterclasses, the School Gardens Alliance was often asked how to create a good school garden handbook. After all, a successful school garden depends on good organisation and oversight. That is what the handbook helps you with. It makes knowledge transferable, ensures that people have access to important information, and prevents you from forgetting anything important.
The School Gardens Alliance has worked out everything that should be included in the handbook in a new illustration, which they are releasing around the time of this masterclass, including all explanations and practical examples from the Wielewaal school garden complex in Nijmegen. Clemens Thonen is a teacher in Special Primary Education and is very active as a volunteer at these school gardens. He illustrates the information from the school garden handbook with examples and experiences from his daily practice.
The school garden handbook covers, among other things:
- The location and design of your school garden.
- Your growing plan, including crop selection and sowing schedule.
- The annual schedule, holiday timetables and special activities.
- Supplies needed in the school garden, such as tools, water and planting materials.
- The agreements that are made: rules in the garden, arrangements concerning transport and involving parents, etc.
At the centre are the school garden working group and, of course, a complete contact list of everyone involved.
During this masterclass, experienced school garden facilitator Annerie Rutenfrans and Special Primary Education (School Garden) Teacher Clemens Thonen will go through the handbook step by step and share their experiences.
You can register for the masterclass here.