BBC 2 Gardeners' World

On Tuesday 23rd May Wicor hosted the film and sound crews from BBC Gardeners' World along with Flo, their presenter.  The director had visited the school a few months ago after putting out an advert to anyone who felt they had grounds worthy of sharing with a national audience.  After walking around the grounds it was immediately felt that we certainly had something special to share and the date was booked. 

The agenda for the day, along with the script, was carefully planned as they certainly knew what they wanted to see and hear.  The focus was simply to showcase what we do as a school to get children to understand horticulture and the world around them.  They were also interested in talking to our community volunteers, without whom we would struggle to care for our large grounds.  The focus for the latter was how we encourage the intergenerational gap to pass down their knowledge leading to more mutual respect between the groups.

The day was a long one starting at 8.30am and ending at 7.15pm.  The areas filmed were the allotments and polytunnels where children planted and discussed the tomatoes growing this year.  A new Mediterranean bed had been dug over and made ready by RNS Collingwood the previous week and this was then planted up with flowers that like hot dry weather.  Year 3 took part in this as they had been learning about the different types of compost and now to encourage growth, so they brought their learning to the plot.  Volunteers were interviewed as was Mr Wildman and the day ended with pizzas all round by the clay oven which was being attended to by Mrs Pattison and Mrs Parker. 

Prepping 40 pizzas for the clay oven!

Once everyone was off site at about 5pm, the crew then carried on filming backdrops both of our grounds and also of the sounds around Wicor - luckily the birds put on a tremendous chorus

A great day was had by all and everyone learnt how difficult it is being a presenter and director of a TV show as there were many, many takes making sure everything was perfect.  A day's filming will be translated into a 7 minute slot on June 2nd at 8pm BBC 2 Gardeners' World.