The courtyard is a large but disused space that students and teachers pass by several times a day and overlook from classroom windows. With your pledges we plan to bring this space to life by turning it into a vegetable garden!

We'll install a greenhouse to grow vegetables and we'll build an outdoor seating area where guest speakers can present gardening tips and international cooking habits, and teachers can inspire students to grow and cook their own healthy food.

The garden will be accessible to all Sunderland College students, and it will be specifically adapted for use by those with disabilities including the visually impaired.

If you pledge now we might even get our teenagers eating their own sprouts this Christmas!

What we'll deliver:

• Construct raised flower beds for wheelchair users
• Hold cooking classes and host inspiring guest talks
• Build a sensory rockery garden
• Clear up the area and pond
• Create a vegetable patch
• Erect a greenhouse
• Revitalise and update the pond

Why it's a great idea:

Transforming this land will give all of our students a good sense of pride, and demonstrate that students can overcome barriers and contribute and accomplish anything with the right help and support. It will also teach the students of Sunderland College that growing and cooking their own healthy food is incredibly rewarding and empowering.

Steps to get it done:

• Ask a local garden landscaper to create a design with estimated costs
• Buy gardening tools
• Host a garden launch event a month after with snacks made from the first harvest!
• Host an info evening to gather support from students, teachers, and parents
• Build the raised beds, greenhouse, shed, hose point
• Plant the first vegetables with the students

There has been great excitement at the college since we started discussing this project and we really need your help to make it a reality.

Please pledge now, and we hope to see you at our First Harvest Launch Party in the New Year!