We’re vegging out!

From the veg patch to the dinner table, a bunch of pupils at an Ipswich school are going back to basics.

The green-fingered youngsters at Dale Hall Primary are today celebrating their first full year’s crop after digging their kitchen garden last autumn.

And the screams of joy were even louder yesterday when the students discovered they have received a silver gilt award at this year’s Ipswich in Bloom competition.

The fruit and vegetable patch at the school in Dale Hall Lane was created after the pupils invited their parents to help out.

Since then every class in the school has taken responsibility for their own patch.

And among their bumper yield this year have been salad leaves, beans, potatoes and much more.

Deputy headteacher Katherine Dunnett, who picked up the school’s Ipswich in Bloom award and their accolade of best in category for the children’s fruit and vegetables, said everyone was delighted at the recognition.

“It is brilliant,” she said. “We have supplied our kitchen with all sorts of fruit and vegetables and at the moment we are all researching lots of different recipes for marrows.

“It provides us a great opportunity for collaborative learning, where the children can work together and learn and discover new things.

“We are always looking for new ways to learn outside the classroom and this has been a fantastic venture.”

As well as coming top in the Ipswich in Bloom competition, the pupils also triumphed in another garden-based challenge earlier this summer.

They nurtured their seedlings into a competition winner, beating eight other primary schools to the title of tallest sunflower.

The Basepoint competition took place earlier this summer with Dale Hall’s plant reaching an impressive 154cm, fighting off the challengefrom St Matthew’s Church of England Primary School, whose sunflower came in a close second measuring 142cm.

Mrs Dunnett added: “We are so pleased with the awards. It is great for the children to see their hard work do so well.”