PUPILS at The Grove Primary School in Trowbridge are celebrating their first home-grown harvest after a year of working to build their own allotment at the school.

Children from all year groups have been digging up potatoes this week ahead of a big assembly on Monday when they will use their first crop to make a home-grown salad for sports day the following day.

Project leader and Year 2 teacher, Peter Eggers said, “Over the last year we have been raising money for, and building, an allotment area on our school grounds. It has been a big project for us and needed help and support from the children, staff and parents to get done.

“People have generously helped us with discount on building equipment, free building and plumbing work and gifts of gardening tools, gloves, plant pots and seeds to help us get going.

“Every class has been growing a different type of potato and next week we will see which class grew the most, biggest, smallest and oddest potatoes. The children have absolutely loved digging up the potatoes – I’ve never seen them so excited for vegetables!

“The allotment is a good way of connecting the pupils to nature, teaching them how to nurture living things, how plants grow and where food comes from. We have incorporated it into some year groups’ science lessons but it has mostly been a separate project.

“In future we hope to expand the allotment and keep chickens and guinea pigs.”

The Grove’s last attempt at keeping chickens ended in heartbreak when all seven of them were stolen overnight, but Mr Eggers says they will make sure the new pen is extra secure.