District Schools in Bloom 2020! Update April 2020

District Schools in Bloom 2020 - Update April 2020

The Parks and Green Spaces team at St Albans City and District Council / the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust will still be running the District Schools in Bloom 2020 competition. This is a wildlife gardening competition for all schools in St Albans City and District delivering the KS1/KS2 Curriculum.

Although we are unable to run the full competition as normal this year due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation, we would still love to keep the competition open so children/schools can still take part in some outdoor and/or nature-related activities at home. Getting outdoors and engaging with nature, even at home, will be more important than ever during this difficult time.

We now have 3 fun categories that can be entered this year, and all can be enjoyed from the safety of your home. We also have a number of suggestions for outdoor and nature-related ideas and activities that you can safely take part in at home over the coming months. Please see our website for further details: https://www.stalbans.gov.uk/district-schools-bloom-2020

The categories

As part of the competition, we have introduced a natural arts category, called Crafting Nature, whereby children make a piece of artwork made entirely of natural materials. This category will be part of the Hertfordshire Year of Culture 2020.

We also have two other fun categories as part of the competition. Although not part of the Hertfordshire Year of Culture 2020, why not take part in these as well! The categories are:

* Garden GIANTS!: Try growing the BIGGEST fruit and/or vegetables at home!

* Super Sunflower Challenge!: Grow the TALLEST sunflower at home! Sunflowers are not only great for pollinators, but they can also be a sign of positivity during this difficult time.

How to enter

If you are a school, or go to a school, within St Albans City and District that delivers the KS1 and KS2 Curriculum and you wish to enter this year’s competition, please confirm which categories you would like to enter by emailing greenspaces@stalbans.gov.uk by Friday 22nd May 2020 at the latest.

How we will judge this year's competition

As we will no longer be able to visit any schools this year for judging, we would love the children/schools to take photos of their work including before/during/after photos of their sunflowers and fruit/vegetables.

Please send us photos of all your entries, along with your sunflower and fruit/vegetable measurements, to greenspaces@stalbans.gov.uk by Friday 18th September 2020.

Perhaps your school could also consider making a photo collage for each category entered! Please share these with us too, by Friday 18th September 2020!

Prizes and certificates will be awarded for the Winners and Runners Up, and goody bags will be given to all schools taking part!

It is also hoped that we may be able to display photos of the artwork for the Crafting Nature category, along with photos from the other categories, in Verulamium Park after the judging (this will be confirmed later in the year). Depending on the size of the artwork submitted for the Crafting Nature category, there is also the possibility that this could be displayed in a local garden centre (again this will be confirmed later in the year).

Dates for your diary

We really hope that you will be able to take part in the District Schools in Bloom 2020 competition, and encourage children at your school to take part in some gardening and nature-related activities at home. Please see below some important dates for your diary:

Closing date for entries: Friday 22nd May 2020
Closing date for photos, sunflower and fruit/vegetable measurements: Friday 18th September 2020.

For more information visit https://www.stalbans.gov.uk/district-schools-bloom-2020