REEP Garden Awards 2004-2005
in association with The Royal Horticultural Society & The National Trust

Any school or group of people related to a school or working with a school. Primary, Secondary or Special are all welcome. You can work as a school, class, a small group, an out-of-hours group…

REEP Awards are worth at least £500. There will be an overall prize of £1,000 and the special REEP/ACE prize, worth £3,000, for an artist working with a school and incorporating text in a garden.

As well as being an interesting design and design process, projects should show:

• An awareness of faith tradition in the design
• The practice of stewardship in their design and function

Start planning your project, including who will be involved and how. You have until April 5th to present your design but you can start practical work on it before then if you wish. Once you have registered, you will be sent automatic updates and the formal entry form will be sent in January.

NB Keep an account of your project, how it was planned and who is involved. Describing the process is an important part of this Award. You might, for example, keep a diary or video diary of your ideas and planning (problems as well as successes!) with specific examples of how they are worked out.

Citizenship, RE, Art, ICT, Science, Environmental Studies, PSHE – most subjects, not to mention Creativity, Spirituality and Inclusion – can be part of your project. We want you to show how you have used cross-curricular ideas in your plans. Look on the Awards site for more about the relationship to different subjects.

NB What about making this a project for Healthy Schools initiatives?

You can choose your own project but some ideas to get you started include: a Faith Garden, a Wild Garden, a Garden for Worship, an Outside/Inside Garden, an Early Years Garden or a Memorial Garden. Check on the flyer or the entry criteria page for a definition of these.

NB You can be novice gardeners or team leaders or very experienced.

New projects or additional developments from schools that entered or won previously are welcome. So are plans for the rejuvenation of an existing garden.

ICT is part of life in schools and makes it much easier for us to hold this sort of Award. It also helps involve children and young people who might not otherwise be interested in gardening, or where there is no space to make a real garden rather than a ‘virtual’ one. Successful entries from last time included websites, CDs, videos and Powerpoint presentations made by the pupils and showed co-operation between people with different skills.

Why not try anyway? You have until April 8th and you don’t have to actually make the garden. We are interested in the way you think through the project and relate it to the curriculum. And if you have not space, you might even create a model garden.

For an enquiry about the entry process, email or call us.

For ideas about faith gardens, designing a garden or other background, try the Awards website.

For a horticultural query, contact us via the REEP email.

To come on an Inset day (London, Bury St Edmunds or Dewsbury) in late January or early February, contact Elizabeth Brooker by email or phone.

Email is the best way to get in touch with us. See the contact page for details.

Fill out the registration form to register your interest in the awards. We can then send you further details and an entry form.

Even if you have not definitely decided to enter, you can sign up to our email newsletter to be kept informed of news about the awards.