You can de-pond on us

The last time we had been at Cavendish School, our location for last night's task, was way back in 2019, so we were excite to be back to start work on a beautiful outdoor classroom.

We had been asked to come and help transform a disused area of the school grounds, with an existing but neglected pond area, into an outdoor classroom where children can engage with plants, pondlife and wildlife, enriching their school curriculum and contributing to their wellbeing. The school has above average numbers of children on free school meals and with special educational needs. The group of volunteers want to use the space to offer children the chance to have hands on experiences and interactions with nature, support mental wellbeing and create a space to learn and connect to nature together.

When we arrived we could see that this lovely vision had a bit of a way to go, and the area had been untouched since the last time we were there. Our instructions were just to clear as much as possible, so, undeterred, we all grabbed a tool of our choice and got hacking back. While Remy and Alan started cutting away the overgrown area by the pond, Michelle worked on getting rid of the nettles and Divya adopted an excellent technique whacking back the giant weeds.

It was amazing how quickly we made progress, and despite the failing light, we managed to get rid of masses of unwanted growth. It was a really good start, but we'll be back soon to keep at it! It's going to be great to see the progress over the weeks and watch the space slowly transform into an area the kids will love.

Next week we're back at Cultivate London - until then, have a happy week GoodGym!