Oaklands School, East London

In East London sixth form students from Oaklands School were keen to promote good mental health and wellbeing. Following their 4 day Catalyst Course led by Catalyst Trainer Dr. Mahera Ruby, they continued to work with Mahera to explore their idea further and were subsequently awarded £1,000 to enable them to start an intergenerational gardening project with a local residential home.

“We had a really derelict garden up in the school that no one uses, and so we decided that if it's just going to go to waste we might as well do something with it. It was already in the process of being renovated, so we decided, you know what, if it's going to be redeveloped, we might as well bring people to it. So what better way to do that than to go out into the community and bring people in over their shared interest of like gardening”

Yusuf, Catalyst Alumni Participant

Catalyst Alumni coordinated a Winter Festival in December last year that worked across the whole school and brought together sixth form and younger students. Featuring a range of food and games stalls, manned by students, staff and parents of the school, the funds raised were then used to purchase gifts for residents at the local Silk Court Care Home. Later that month, just before Christmas, the students then visited the residents at the home to deliver the gifts and present their intergenerational garden idea. The visit to Silk Court brought a diverse group of young people and predominantly White British residents together. One student performed a South Asian song for the group and a resident sang a Frank Sinatra song for the young people. The Christmas gifts and stories were shared as the group, all local to the area as students or residents of the care home, were introduced to each other.

The hope is that the garden will be launched this Spring.