June 28th 2021

Students from Highfields School Find Artistic Inspiration in the Community Garden

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Boundary Way Allotments & Community Garden is situated adjacent to Highfields and Pennfields Schools, with Highfields having been established at the same time as the allotment, in the 1950s, during the the building of the Warstones Estate.

Both the allotment and the school were built to serve the community and in the 21st Century continue to provide for local people. Boundary Way Project recently enjoyed welcoming several groups of year 9 students from Highfields School for an artistic visit to the allotment and are delighted to be able to build on the connection between the school and the allotment as neighbouring community assets.

Accompanied by their teachers, the students arrived at the gate and Boundary Way Project team introduced them to the allotment. They then all made their way up to the Community Garden, from which they began exploring. The aim of the visit was for the students to explore the allotments and community garden as part of their work towards GCSE Art and Photography, finding inspiration through sketching and taking pictures.

The visit was relaxed and the students were able to roam freely on the allotment, exploring the natural setting to look for areas and compositions that sparked their imaginations. The Community Garden and allotments has been providing our project and associated artists with inspiration for many years and we were delighted to share the magic of the place with the students from Highfields School.

Alongside our developing relationship with Highfields School, we are delighted that the project's relationship with Pennfields School continues to thrive. This follows the success of our Arts Award work with them; our excitement at the school's allotment plot, which is maintained in normal times by 6th Form students; and more recently our Virtual Residency in collaboration with artist Hannah Ayre. Find out more about this exciting residency in this blog post.Image Credits: Rachel Gillies and Moya Lloyd