Our first Nature Award winner, Harrow Way Community School, visits the magnificent Kew Gardens

Following our partnership with Kew Gardens and the Grow Wild programme, at this years’ Roots & Shoots Awards we included a brand new category – Most Outstanding Group in touch with Nature.

It was hard to choose a Winner, but Harrow Way Community School and their dedication to the environment stole our heart! And the Prize! From planting nursery beds at schools to digging them up and replanting at the Andover’s new community woodland: Harmony Woods; to learning how to use compost in order to plant; from learning about the importance of trees and contributing to local nature and increased biodiversity as the new woodland, to attending Plant-for-the-Planet Academies where they train as Climate Justice Ambassadors, made them worthy Winners.The team from Harrow Way got to spend a day at Kew. Here are their thoughts;“At the awards it was amazing because we got to meet Dr Jane Goodall. To be sat there listening to what she had done in her life was just amazing. My reaction when we won the award was surprise and excitement because I didn’t think that we would get one of the awards and when we got up on that stage Jane said thank you to all of us and I was just so thrilled to be up there with her.Part of our prize was visiting Kew gardens. We went around most of the garden including the fungarium. We learned about different types of fungus and plants. I liked looking at all the fungus and the mini waterfalls and the giant lake that is close to the entrance. It is the most beautiful place I have ever been to.” - Nicola Marshall“At the awards it was great seeing all of the other schools and finding out what they had done to support our community. I also loved meeting lots of different people from all around the world that do all sorts of different things. I was very proud of the comments we received and the work we had put into our display. Kew was amazing! We got a private tour of the fungarium where I learned that most fungi isn’t the normal mushroom shape, some look really weird, some are huge where as some area tiny. I loved going in the palm house and seeing all of the different foods being grown from all around the world. Thank you Kew and Roots & Shoots!” Izzy Taylor

Philip Turvil, the Grow Wild Programme Director at Kew Gardens said: “What a pleasure to welcome Harrow Way Community School to Kew Gardens. We were barely past the entrance when pupils started asking questions – and gave their own facts about plants too. A charming and knowledgeable group. The highlight was our tour of Kew’s fungarium, the world’s largest collection of fungi, and the wonderful conversations that ensued about mushrooms and how they shape life on earth. I wish Harrow Way the very best in their plant and fungi projects.”