Green fingers have been hard at work at South Ayrshire Council's Southcraig Campus creating a fantastic new garden at the school.

Pupils and young people from the Council's Skills Towards Employment Project (STEP) have worked together to design the garden to ensure that it was purpose built to meet the needs of the school.

The garden will be used by the school to grow vegetables and teach the pupils skills to maintain a garden. While working on the garden pupils have experienced working with a group of young people who are keen to assist them to improve their school environment.

The STEP project works with targeted young people and adults to help them improve their employability skills through personal development programmes and work placements. The specific target groups are the young and adult homeless, young people who are looked after and accommodated by the Council and young people affected by disability or who have additional support needs.

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South Ayrshire Provost Winifred Sloan, who officially opened the new garden said: "I am a keen gardener so I fully appreciate the pleasure and benefits this garden will bring to the pupils.

"This is an excellent example of how STEP embraces the senior stage of the 'Curriculum for Excellence'. It engages young people who have left school encouraging them to contribute effectively to their community while developing skills for learning, life and future employment.

"The newly created garden facilities at Southcraig Campus will enable pupils to get fully involved in planting, tending and harvesting flowers and vegetables. Gardening is very popular with people of all ages. The project is an ideal way for the pupils to mix with new people and improve their lifeskills. The lessons the pupils learn will stay with them for the rest of their lives and I am sure that many of them will carry on gardening long after they leave school."

Funding of over £8,000 was provided for the project by Lottery Awards for All. BTCV, a charity set up in 1959 with a successful history of environmental conservation volunteering throughout the UK and around the world, provided expertise to create the garden. Volunteers from BTCV carried out the heavy building work at the school.

Work carried out creating the new garden includes: building wheelchair accessible paths; extending the slabbed area; creating raised vegetable beds; building a greenhouse from plastic bottles; making a bog garden; establishing a 'bug hotel' and wormery'; making a wildflower meadow; planting fruit trees and establishing six large flower pots.

James Strang, S4/5 1 said: "I like the whole thing. I have enjoyed meeting other people from STEP."

Plants were kindly donated for the new garden by Dobbies, Homebase and B&Q.

(GK)