Zephaniah's Peace Garden

When we have a garden,

we will never be alone,

And I think we all deserve,

A garden of our own”

Zephaniah

At Queensbridge school, we are inspired by words, and none more so than local hero, Benjamin Zephaniah. We dedicated our World Book Day celebrations to him this year, and planted a blossom tree in his memory. We honoured his wish not to cut any flowers to celebrate his life, but rather lay down roots.

From this tree, grew the idea for Zephaniah’s Peace Garden, which we hope will be a place for our pupils and staff to find a moment of calm in the school day, during social times. The ambition was to create a haven at the front of our school site, with cosy reading pods and layered seating for relaxation with friends. We have decorated the log boundary with book titles, chosen by our pupils, to reflect our school’s reading culture, and celebrate the stories that have been formative to them.

We recruited a phenomenal team of parent, staff and governor volunteers, who donated time, expertise, money, plants, and brute force to make this happen. We couldn’t have done it without every single one of them, who worked tirelessly through some fairly soggy conditions.

We sought advice from Moseley in Bloom, who helped to steer us towards the right plants to create peace and serenity, recommending rushing grasses and hardy scented plants like lavender and rosemary. We were also very grateful to receive a financial donation from Moseley in Bloom which allowed us to buy a curated selection of hardy, colourful perennials and climbers from York Road Supplies. This has been a wonderful community project, and we are extremely excited to open this space to our pupils to see them thrive, relax and read in this beautiful new space.