We are so lucky to have a large playground in a beautiful setting for our learners to enjoy.
We have lots of plans for how we’d like to develop our outside space.
Our Allotment Garden Project
We are working to develop two allotment areas for gardening.
The garden for the Primary Department is called “Ellie’s Garden”. Ellie was a nursery nurse at St Crispin’s who sadly died in early 2023. Ellie was a keen gardener and shared her skills and knowledge with the learners, looking after our gardens at the old school building. The garden for the Secondary Garden is called “Gilbert’s Garden”. Gilbert was a resident of Burdiehouse. When Gilbert died in 2020, he made a bequest to his church for improvements to Burdiehouse Burn Valley Park. A donation from the church to the school kick-started the project.
We already have 2 large polytunnels where we have started to grow a variety of fruits and vegetables. We are building 10 raised beds so that all learners can easily access them. These will be planted up and looked after by the learners with the support of staff.
Future Plans
Work continues on the development of the allotments. In the future we plan to add more playground equipment for the learners to enjoy.
Tesco Stronger Starts
St Crispin’s are bidding for a cash boost from the Tesco Stronger Starts initiative. Tesco works with community charity Groundwork to run its community funding scheme, which sees grants of up to £1,500, £1,000 and £500 awarded to local community projects.
Greenspace Scotland is working with Groundwork to provide support to communities in Scotland, with a particular focus on children and young people.
Three groups in every community have been shortlisted to receive the cash award and shoppers are being invited to head along to Tesco stores to vote for who they think should take away the top grant.
St Crispin’s Allotment Garden Project is one of the groups on the shortlist. Voting begins in October.
Thank You to our Supporters
A Grant of £494 for Gardening Equipment from the University of Edinburgh Local Community Grants Scheme.
A Donation of £5000. We have been using this funding for the raised beds and gardening resources.
A team of volunteers from Starbucks has supported us by tidying/weeding/garden maintenance
A team from the City of Edinburgh Council Community Payback Service has been building the raised beds.
Donation of bulbs and help with planting. Frequent visits to help with weeding and garden maintenance. Donation of £250 towards gardening materials.
A Grant of £900 from The Finnis Scott Foundation so that each class can buy seeds, plants and gardening supplies for the year.