We invite you to meet the winners of the ‘Our Backyard’ competition. As part of the series, we will present the 13 best projects from Poland and Ukraine. Each one includes an original description of the work carried out and photographic or/and film documentation.
We are looking forward to spring and a full blossoming of projects, but for now, we invite you to read on!
🌼 ‘Patio Makeover’ project
Submitted by: Anna Janota
School: Primary School No. 27 in Lublin
Participants: pupils from VIII class, age 14
Author’s description of the project:
At the beginning of November, we heard about a competition entitled ‘Our Backyard’. We decided straight away that we would take part. We are Montessori classes, and project work is our forte! Our school patio seemed the perfect place for this ‘special mission’.
Unfortunately, the patio was rather neglected, covered in a carpet of dry leaves, with vines sprawling in all directions, overgrown lawns, moss-covered walls, no seating, no decorations and… no atmosphere.
Under the guidance of our English teacher, Ms Ania, we decided to tidy up and restore our school’s courtyard to its former glory. The ‘Patio Makeover’ mission was underway! First, we decided who was keen to take part in the project, discussed what we wanted to achieve and what we could do, and then split into groups. We chose ‘project managers’, a ‘decoration team’, a ‘team responsible for cooperation with the school caretaker’ and a ‘documentation team’. Apart from that, everyone was a ‘cleaner’, regardless of their other role in the project. We decided to call our project ‘Patio Makeover’ – it had to be in English, because after all, we were doing it with our English teacher.
The days were already short and chilly; at times it rained or even snowed, the ground was turning to mud more and more often, leaves stuck to our shoes and rose twigs to our jackets, but we persevered! For the whole month, in our spare moments, we worked on the patio.
🧑🌾What activities did we carry out within this project?
1/ We pruned the shrubs and vines
2/ We removed the moss from the low walls
3/ We weeded the lawns and paving stones
4/ We raked up the leaves (lots and lots of leaves)
5/ We removed the parts of the old bench from the patio
6/ We put in two new benches
7/ We washed and cleaned two benches made from pallets
8/ We painted flowers on the low walls
9/ We decorated the bushes with crocheted garlands
10/ We put up a bird feeder
11/ We drew the hopscotch squares
12/ We hung up the fairy lights and Christmas garlands
13/ We decorated the windows around the patio with artwork created by the children from the after-school club
14/ We made a sign with the name of our project
There was a lot of work involved, but we think the result is brilliant! The cold weather meant we couldn’t plant any bulbs, but we already know that come spring we’ll plant new seedlings, put out pots of flowers, hang new decorations on the trees and windows, and place cushions on the benches. We hope that the patio will become our little garden, where we can spend our breaks surrounded by trees, shrubs and flowers.
‘Patio Makeover’ mission – autumn edition – is now complete. We are now looking forward to spring!
👉 Be sure to see the photos and the film from the project implementation.
We encourage you to explore all episodes of the series.
Episode 1: ‘Flower Paradise’
Episode 2: ‘School Flower Bed’
Episode 3: ‘Our Garden’
