Fleetville greenhouse project

While in search of a project for the Year 6 pupils in their final weeks at Fleetville Junior School, Mrs Todd had the inspired idea to build a Greenhouse from recycled plastic bottles.  Helen, our enthusiastic caretaker, who runs the allotment project within school, took on the challenge to collect over 1,500 two litre clear plastic bottles.  She managed to enlist the help of the whole Fleetville community, and the word soon spread!   The bottle totaliser in the front entrance marked our steady progress towards our target.  With Helen's drive and perseverance, the total was reached within a matter of weeks.

Year 6 spent a week cutting the bottoms off the bottles, carefully fitting them inside one another and mounting them on to a wooden cane.  

Financial support from the PTA enabled Year 6 to purchase the wood for the frame.  We are indebted to Mr Matt Greaves, a Year 6 parent, who gave up his time to construct the wooden frame for the greenhouse.   The bottle stacks were then carefully slotted into the frame.   However, within the 1,500 bottles, there were a number of green plastic ones.  After puzzling for some time over how to use them in the greenhouse, we arrived at a solution! Can you spot the hidden message built into the walls and door? 

The Mayor of St Albans officially opened our Recycled Bottle Greenhouse at the Year 6 leavers party in July 2014.

With the local community still collecting bottles for us, we now have enough to build a second greenhouse, due to be completed in October half term.

We also had enough left over to help 2 local schools build their own greenhouses!

Thank you to everyone in the local community who helped us achieve our vision!