Local regeneration charity, Groundwork Greater Nottingham has been working with Arnold school children in a project to educate them in healthy eating and get them growing in their gardens, thanks to funding from the Nottingham City Primary Care Trust's Health Initiatives Budget.

Groundwork's Dig for Health! project was taken to the children of Arnbrook Primary School in Arnold. Groundwork project officers, worked with the children, teaching them how to grow their own organic fruit and vegetables in a small garden at the school. As well as growing their own vegetables, the pupils got exercise weeding, digging and harvesting.

60 children took part in transforming a bare and negelected space at their school, into a thriving and beautiful allotment garden. Chloe Griffiths of Groundwork Greater Nottingham said, "They grew and harvested lots of different fruit and vegetables, including traditional Asian cuisine varieties like coriander and mustard greens. Most of the children had never tried these flavours before and loved the peppery taste."

The children also learnt how to recycle by composting their weeds and banana skins in a compost bin They also learnt about harvesting rain water for watering their plants in a water butt.

A spokesperson from the school said, "This project helps to raise awareness and encourages children to live a healthy lifestyle. It was an essential learning opportunity for our children and they have gained a great deal from the experience."

Questionnaires showed that the children were far more aware of what constitutes a healthy diet by the end of the project. Chloe Griffiths added,"The children showed that their choice of snacks is improved from the processed foods that they had enjoyed before, as they are now eating more fresh fruit and vegetable snacks. 90% of the pupils even said that they would keep on growing their own food."

For further information in the first instance, please contact Richard Chamberlain at Groundwork on 0115 9788212.