Writhlington Business and Enterprise School
Orchids Adventures in Conservation, Science, Horticulture and Enterprise.
Chelsea Flower Show Gold 2006: Lifelong Learning in the Garden
This exhibit tells the story of the Writhlington School Orchid Project through plants, images and text. The display will highlight the school students’ award-winning science research carried out on recent expeditions to Guatemala, Costa Rica and Brazil. This includes work that has won students a place at this year’s finals of Young Scientist of the Year.
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The exhibit highlights Writhlington School’s conservation enterprise initiatives in Guatemala, India, Costa Rica and Gabon and how the school has linked these partners in the UK including The Eden Project, Bicton Park Botanic Gardens, AT Bristol and Hillier Garden Centres.
It also includes information about the habitats, status and cultivation of tropical orchids and demonstrates excellence in raising and growing orchids from all over the globe. Visitors to the display will also find out about the award-winning Young Enterprise projects run by students at Writhlington including National Prize winning companies Los Amigos del Bosque and Brazil-Brazil.
The orchid species in the display have all been grown by the pupils and include many plants raised from seed by the students. The display is supported with information about every species present including the natural habitat, conservation status, cultivation and other human stories, such as Encycliacochleata being the national flower of Belize.
There is a special focus on the diversity of species included in this display and how this represents the diversity in orchid species and the importance of protecting biodiversity especially in tropical forests.
The teacher is Simon Pugh-Jones and he grew orchids himself as a teenager and set up the Writhlington School Orchid Project. Simon has led Science expeditions to Guatemala, Costa Rica and Brazil, which have resulted in outstanding research.
Pupil Callum Swift is 17 years old and has been involved in the Orchid project since he was 11.
Callum is the youngest person to be awarded an RHS Merlin Grant for his recent expedition to Guatemala where he worked with fellow pupil, Chris Ashman, who will also be at the show, to prepare a field guide to the orchids of the Yaxha Forest Reserve.
Chris has carried out research of orchids in the wild in Costa Rica, Guatemala and Brazil and was in the final of Young Scientist of the Year in February. He has also been awarded an RHS Merlin Grantin the summer of 2005.
[Royal Horticultural Society]
