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Green-fingered students are hoping to have national success with their gardening project.

Year 8 students at Forest Hall School are taking part in the Royal Horticultural Society’s Campaign for School Gardening project The Green Plan It Challenge.

The six students - Darcy Ayliffe, Emma Erasmus, Courtney Joynson, Jack Clarke, Eden Armstrong and Ollie Law – have taken on the challenge to plan and build a model of a garden they would like to see in their school or community.

The team has been working with mentor Anthea Harrison – an award-winning garden designer from Stansted - who has been offering guidance on designing a garden from scratch and practical plant knowledge about what will work in the space used.

The students spent a day at RHS Hyde Hall, near Chelmsford, to learn more about the project and take part in activities to get a better understanding of the competition’s aims.

They also worked together to design a super plant with special abilities to address a specific problem.

Daniel Ricketts, gardening club leader who is teacher responsible for the project in school, said. “It was a brilliant day with the RHS team. It was really exciting to see hidden skills and knowledge being displayed by our students. All six have shown great commitment to working on the garden in the past year and this is the perfect way for them to show an even wider array of talent and really get the space used to its full potential.”

The ten-week project involves the team using a wide range of skills such as maths, computing and English as they will prepare a report and a presentation on the garden they have designed to be judged by a panel of horticulture experts in November at RHS Hyde Hall.

Head of school Hannah Jones said: “I am extremely proud of how hard our students have worked on our school garden and now in the wider community. Our students have shown a real passion in improving the environment for all which is great to see.”

Follow the team’s progress on Twitter @fhs_garden