Growing a Greener Future: School Gardening and the Power of the Food System
- Daphne Du Cros
- May 29
- 2 min read

Half term week is National Children’s Gardening Week (24 May – 1 June 2025) it reminded us of the simple yet powerful impact gardening has on children’s curiosity, confidence, and connection to community and the world around them. This annual campaign aims to inspire children while the weather is perfect (as perfect as a May half term gets in the U.K.)for sowing seeds, planting, and seeing fast-growing results – the perfect environment for learning through doing. There are so many great resource on the website, linked above.
Here in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin, the SGFP - Schools Food Web is working with 20 schools to turn gardening into more than a seasonal activity – it’s becoming a vital tool for embedding food education, sustainability, and wellbeing into the curriculum. Children are not just growing plants – they are growing knowledge, agency, and resilience in a rapidly changing world.
Why Gardening Matters More Than Ever
Gardening helps children connect with where their food comes from, understand the effort and care it takes to produce it, and appreciate its value. At a time when food systems are under strain and health inequalities are widening, teaching children to grow food is a powerful act of empowerment.
- It supports nutritional awareness, showing children how fresh food grows and encouraging healthier choices.
- It contributes to climate resilience, as children learn about composting, biodiversity, and low-carbon food systems.
- It boosts mental health and wellbeing, offering a calm, hands-on space for reflection, teamwork, and growth.
-It models sustainability, with many of our schools composting food waste to feed their gardens, closing the loop on waste and carbon.
Through the Schools Food Web, gardening becomes a gateway into understanding the broader food system – the network of growing, eating, wasting, and restoring that touches every aspect of our lives. If we get the food system right, everything else follows: healthier children, stronger communities, and a greener future.

Planting Ideas, Not Just Seeds
So why not ask your child's school how they are embedding growing into the curriculum.
We should celebrate not only the joy of gardening but its transformative potential. Across 20 schools, we’ve seen how a simple garden bed can become a classroom for climate action, nutrition, science, and creativity, community and wellbeing.
Because when children really grow food, they grow much, much, more. The skills to build a better, more resilient and food secure world.
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