Gardening equipment donated to budding horticulturalists in Cambridge

We are pleased to support The Cavendish School, Cambridge's first state maintained, special free school for young people with autism, by donating spades, wheelbarrows, seeds and trees for edible planting for them to use in their forest school activities.

The donation kicks off an extended collaboration that will see Socius’ gardening team visit the school to deliver activities for the students, teaching them techniques and providing education around sustainable edible planting and protecting biodiversity.

Our proposals for Devonshire Gardens feature a sustainable neighbourhood in the heart of Cambridge, has a key focus on edible planting, and the protection of biodiversity. Plans for the development include a central public park, and will include interactive community activities such as edible planting, and has been designed to support the addition of new animal and insect habitats such as bird boxes and insect hotels, using Natural Cambridgeshire’s Developing with Nature toolkit.

We have also launched a Statement of Intent for Sustainable Food, in partnership with Bioregional and Cambridge Sustainable Food, for the proposed Devonshire Gardens site, which will form the basis of education activities at The Cavendish School.

Catriona Henson, forest school leader at The Cavendish School said:

“We’d like to thank Socius and Railpen for the donation of gardening equipment to support our forest school classes.

“Through forest school we encourage our students to explore the natural environment and learn from it and with these new tools and equipment we’ll be able to expand our students’ experiences and deepen their learning around edible planting and protecting biodiversity in particular.

“We are looking forward to our continued collaboration with Socius and excited for the educational activities we have planned with the gardening team.”

Doug Higgins, Project Director commented:

“Food plays a key role in sustainability, impacting our wellbeing and the planet. It is an important component of our society - a connector of people - and with the right strategy can help improve health, build a sense of community, tackle inequality and reduce environmental impact.

“This is the approach we have taken to protecting and promoting sustainability at Devonshire Gardens, and we will be using our activities with The Cavendish School forest school to share the knowledge of our experienced gardening team and partners Cambridge Sustainable Food.”