A WORCESTER primary school gained an insight into careers in horticulture and healthcare after winning a gardening competition.
St George’s CE Primary School won the Worcester Schools Gardening Competition at The Worcester Show earlier this year.
The first prize was trip to renowned horticulture centre Pershore College.
Pupils were rewarded for their gardening project carried out by their lunchtime gardening club.
It was submitted for the competition run by the Worcester Allotments Forum.
Coun Louis Stephen, Mayor of Worcester, presented the school with their prize in the Mayor’s Parlour.
Pershore College, part of WCG, sponsored the gardening competition since 2019 and covered all travel costs for the school trip.
Thirty year six pupils took a guided tour around the state-of-the-art facilities at Pershore.
They split into two groups and visited three different areas of the college.
Josh Egan-Wyer, Head of Horticulture at Pershore College, introduced children to plants in the college’s collections house.
The collections house is environmentally controlled and the children learned about the different environments in which certain plants grow.
Pupils had the chance to meet and feed some of the college’s animals, including reptiles, rabbits and donkeys.
In addition children visited the recently-opened care suite at the college for students seeking careers in health and social care.
Alice Lane, assistant headteacher and year six Teacher at St George’s CE Primary School, said:
“It was a great experience for the children. They all loved the trip and found it really interesting.”
“We place a lot of importance at our school in showing children the different educational paths they can follow.
“It doesn’t have to be in a classroom with a pen and pad there are hands-on careers they can pursue.
“We would like to thank Pershore College hope we can work with the college again in the future.”
Josh Egan-Wyer, Head of Horticulture at Pershore College, said:
“We would like to congratulate the school’s gardening club on winning the competition and we hope they enjoyed their visit to the college.
“The children from St George’s were engaged and interested in finding out about everything we do here at Pershore College
“We hope they gained some insights into potential careers. Perhaps in a few years’ time we will be welcoming them back to the college as students.”
