The Potting Shed is a well-established place of learning at Prior’s Court as a place to develop horticulture-based skills in our Functional Academics and Vocational Skills Areas of Learning.

But something new has been happening in the Potting Shed this academic year – the Great Potting Throw Down.

Planting cuttings is something the young people do as part of every session in the Potting Shed – not only is this setting aside seedlings ready for use next Spring, the process is also great for fine motor skill development.

In sessions, Potting Shed Instructor Sammi Yarwood started to count the number of seedlings successfully planted to show the young people how productive they were being – and it has created some friendly competition along the way. Voila – the Great Potting Throw Down was born.

Only successful plantings in each session are counted - the full process has to be followed correctly and finished. Here is young person Joel showing the process:

The running tally from each session by each class group is kept to crown a class winner at the end of each term.

And there appears to be a positive effect as most young people are choosing to plant more than is listed on their schedules.

The overall number of plantings? More than 650 seedlings were planted from September to Thursday, 5 December – so about 140 per week.