Wealden Times | WT244 | September 2022 | Winter Interiors Supplement inside

Round and Round
the Garden
Education
istockphoto.com/Strekalova
“
During our wellbeing week in
January 2022, Dulwich’s SEN
team looked at additional projects
which could enhance our wellbeing
and the seed of an idea took root
– to create an outdoor sensory
garden for the children.
The Priorities
Dulwich was already a pioneer in
the conversation around mental
health and wellbeing. We have a
long-standing relationship with
Place2Be (now over 5 years); the
iSpace and #iWonder wellbeing
programmes are embedded in
our curriculum, which equip our
children with the language and
skills to talk about and manage
their feelings; we interrogate every
aspect of our co-curricular offering
to find additional ways to enhance
wellbeing; and we have regularly
hosted Youth Mental Health First
Aid courses for local schools and
parents in association with the
Sam West Foundation. But we are
always looking at what more we
can do for wellbeing.
We wanted to create a garden
that would be an enclosed,
safe space, in contrast to our
widespread open spaces (we are
lucky enough to sit on over 50
acres). It would be somewhere
to take a short time out from a
lesson, to alleviate anxiety before
the start of the day, to find a
moment of calm when feeling tired
or overwhelmed.
We knew the design and
execution should be just as
important as the end result; it was
vital to maximise the children’s
involvement from beginning to
end. This would be their initiative.
Dulwich Prep Cranbrook tell us about their
wonderful Sensory Garden project
The Design
The idea for a sensory wellbeing
garden – incorporating all five
senses – was taken to the Little
Stream children, across Years 1 – 4,
during an assembly. The design
and elements they wanted to
include were up to them and they
really rose to the challenge.
The children collaborated on
their ideas, which were then
presented by a representative from
each form at the Little Stream
School Council meeting during
the Spring term. Lots of truly
wonderful ideas were proposed,
tying in with the five different
senses. Some ideas were perhaps
more feasible than others, but
we found a way to incorporate as
much as possible.
The children’s ideas included
a wishing well or water feature,
outdoor speakers, rain sticks,
insect hotels, a bird box, a stream,
wind chimes, and outdoor
instruments for sounds.
Fruit trees, plants and herbs
were all considered to incorporate
taste, while the sense of smell
could be achieved through floral
scents of lavender or roses.
Popular sight requests included
lighting, sunflowers, statues, a
treehouse, mirrors and colourful
artworks. And finally, the sense of
touch inspired ideas of textured
pathways, sandpits, grasses, a
water trough, or the ultimate
choice: an animal cuddle corner.
The animal cuddle corner came
top of everyone’s list.
Local landscape designer, David
Sarton, then took the children’s
marvellous ideas and used them to
create a garden design.
The Build
Across several weeks, children,
parents and staff collaborated
in their efforts to create the
garden: we painted fences, made
flower beds, built paths, planted
flowers, shrubs, fruit trees and
herbs, installed water features
and ensconced the much-desired
guinea pig hutch.
The Result
The joy of working collaboratively
towards such a positive end-goal
was rivalled only by the end result
itself. Our Year 3 children were
on-hand to open our Sensory
Wellbeing Garden to Dulwich
staff, parents and children on
our Summer Celebration Day
25 th June, as planned. The
transformation of the space into
our Sensory Wellbeing Garden is
breath-taking.
Almost every idea presented
at the Little Stream Council
meeting has been incorporated
and the delight among the
children in seeing their concepts
come to fruition has been a joy
to behold. Since its opening we
have run clubs and workshops
to continue to maximise the
children’s connection with the
garden – willow weaving to create
some shade for a beautiful bench
donated by a kind staff member,
gardening clubs, maintenance
and watering clubs, and guinea
pig care. There is so much more
yet to come and we look forward
to finding more ways in which
the garden will contribute
”
to our
wellbeing for years to come.
dulwichprepcranbrook.org
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