GREEN-fingered students have been getting stuck in to help create a pond and garden area at Park View Infant School.

Pupils set up a dedicated gardening area last year where they grow different fruit and vegetables including carrots, strawberries, raspberries and rhubarb which can then be sold to parents.

Their hard work paid off last year when pupils from the school came third in last year’s Basingstoke in Bloom competition for their garden’s flower arrangement, and they are hoping to improve in this year’s competition.

Laura Wilcock said: “Children are really heavily involved in setting these things up and they are out here in their lunch and break times.

“They come out here as part of their lessons to see what trees and different birds they can see as well. It is science, maths, working as a team, drawing and weighing.”

In addition, work is currently under way to create a pond which will be the home to a selection of frogs and tadpoles in a bid to create an improved habitat for other animals including birds and insects.

The project wouldn’t have been possible without a £1,000 grant from Eastleigh-based Radian Housing Association, which wrote to the school inviting them to apply for the grant which is aimed at community projects.