A FOREST of giant sunflowers greeted staff and students at Guardian Angels Catholic Primary School, Ashmore, on their return to school from summer holidays.
ESL (English as a Second Language)/learning support teacher Sara Probyn had planted the sunflower seeds in a small, “no dig” garden she created for the school in the dying days of Term 4 last year.
Sara, who firmly believes in the motto “from little things, big things grow”, planted two different types of sunflower seeds with a bit of help from Year 5 students Molly Williams and Chantelle Guthman.
The aim was for the “no dig” garden to “do its thing” and take care of the seeds over the long summer holidays bringing bright, colourful flowers for the first day of Term 1.
To Sara’s delight on the first day of school, there were green flower buds all ready to bloom.
On the second day, one flower had opened, and by the third day, several were out.
By week two, when school had started in earnest, much to the delight of Guardian Angels’ students, there was a forest of bright, happy, yellow faces, taller than them all, straining their necks to meet the sunlight.
The sunflowers are now at their peak and are ready to be picked by individual classes who are more than ready to enjoy, discuss and learn from, as the flowers’ centres contain complex spirals that reflect the Fibonacci Maths concept.
