As part of its personal enrichment programme, the gardening club grows produce all year round while also learning the worth and value of home-grown food.
Nikki Lloyd, chairwoman of the PTFA, said the new committee had worked hard to build this community for the students and the school.
She said that a greenhouse was something that the gardening club had been requesting and an offer of funding from former PTFA member Rachael Hockey had set wheels in motion.
‘It gets them outside, gets them learning about nature and spending time with each other,’ Mrs Lloyd said.
‘It forms a community which can create enjoyment not only in the work but also the gardening as you can create something and see its final outcome.’
Nicola Errington, a business teacher at the Sixth Form Centre, helped set the gardening scheme up and has enjoyed years of all different people coming together and trying something different.
‘Not all students want to do sports or drama, or traditional things. It’s therapeutic,’ she said.
‘Having duties that can develop your lifestyle skills is something these young people can take into later life. And growing is part of Guernsey culture.’
Mrs Errington explained how the club also has an indoor plant clinic for when the weather is bad, with the space used to diagnose problems with plants and maintaining life in others.
Biology teacher Caroline Ulyatt hoped to plant various seeds and then progress to sell the produce, or use them to create a welcoming and enjoyable outside area for the Sixth Form.
She reiterated the importance of gardening and how ‘they are doing something that benefits the school’.
In the future, Miss Ulyatt hopes to grow and sell the plants for charity.
The centre already supports international, national and local charities on rotation.
Jean-Pierre Bourgaize, Mark Quinn and Dan Lloyd all volunteered their time over a weekend to build the greenhouse, as the quote for building it was more than had been spent on the greenhouse itself.
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