This month, we had the pleasure of visiting Henhurst Ridge Primary Academy in East Staffordshire. Our team, including Ecology and Conservation Manager Paul, Assistant Ecologist Grace, and Regional Manager Victoria, visited the school to lead a wildlife talk and a planting session. The school was eager to implement a sensory garden on their school grounds, and we were keen to support this initiative.
Sensory gardens offer a range of benefits for children’s education and well-being. Serving as outdoor classrooms, they promote hands-on, multi-sensory learning. Beyond enhancing education, these gardens provide a calming space that reduces stress and encourages mindfulness. The act of gardening also promotes physical activity, helping to develop motor skills and coordination, while fostering a deeper connection with nature and inspiring outdoor play.
The day started with a wildlife talk led by Paul, who introduced the children to the different types of wildlife they might spot in their gardens, local parks, and school grounds. After the talk, the students got hands-on with a planting session to kick off the sensory garden project. With the enthusiastic help of the reception classes, we planted a variety of herbaceous plants and daffodil bulbs, which will bring vibrant colours to the school grounds in the spring. Meadfleet also donated a large bug hotel, along with gardening gloves and tools, to help the children continue caring for their new garden.
We’re excited to see the continued growth of the sensory garden at Henhurst Ridge Primary Academy and the positive impact it will have. A big thank you to the school for having us, and we were even lucky enough to meet the school dog, Rocket, who gave us a very warm welcome!
If you know of a school that would benefit from working with us, please register your interest through the contact form on the Meadfleet Academy page of our website: https://www.meadfleet.co.uk/the-meadfleet-academy/
About Meadfleet
Meadfleet are a leading sustainable land-adopting management company. We have in-house ecologists with expertise in the BNG metric and are already applying the principles of Biodiversity Net Gain across our existing open space portfolio in England and Wales. Established in 1995, Meadfleet manage over 330 developments and 42,000 residential properties in our portfolio, with a strong balance sheet.
Meadfleet offers management of Biodiversity Net Gain delivery both on a managed development and on offsite areas, either via customer contributions or commuted sums. Our adoption model relieves developers of ongoing liabilities and management costs.
The Meadfleet model removes onerous liabilities from homeowners yet still encourages their input and engagement into the management of their local environment. We are committed to providing an excellent service to residents as demonstrated by our Excellent rating on Trustpilot and are members of The Property Ombudsman Scheme (TPOS), offering customers free, independent redress should they feel it is required. We are happy to work with residents groups and positively encourage the creation of these on the developments we are involved with. We believe this opens an effective two-way dialogue between homeowners and ourselves.
As a land-adopting management company, Meadfleet take long-term responsibility of open space, building customer and community relations and implementing perpetual management and improvement plans. We take a holistic and independent approach to managing areas of open space for the benefit of all residents, biodiversity and the wider environment.