Core syllabus: An ambitious plan to plant an orchard in every nursery, primary and secondary school in Scotland is underway

Nick Drainey went back to school to find out more

HOW to inspire children to eat more fresh fruit and veg is a question many in Scotland have been wrestling with for a number of years. But a massive, yet simple, step is being taken in schools across the country – the return of the orchard.

The organisation Fruitful Schools has an ambitious plan to create orchards in every secondary, primary and nursery school in Scotland. Connecting children with nature while providing a healthy staple for their diet sounds a great idea but how do you go about planting trees at more than 2,000 sites, and how do you grow a tree anyway?

John Hancox, director of Fruitful Schools, is in no doubt that his vision of a tree in every school can become a reality. On a cold January day at Drummore School in Drumchapel, Glasgow, he is preparing for the latest orchard and despite the weather is extremely upbeat: “You get the biodiversity and landscape benefits of planting trees plus you get some fruit – it is a bonus.

“I would say that it is a good idea and good ideas spread.”

Hancox’s love of trees began as a boy. He says: “As a kid I had an aunt who had plum trees and apple trees in her garden and I grew up loving going there and picking them. I think that is something that drives what I do now – it’s a great experience for kids and it is so different from the slightly soulless fruit that comes in cellophane from the supermarket.”

As well as providing fresh fruit, the planting of orchards can teach children of all ages many things from the simple skill of planting to more complicated subjects. Hancox says: “I have seen teachers using it for measuring, for maths, arts projects – there lots of ways it can be used.”

Location of schools is not a problem for planting trees as inner-city playgrounds can have planters or large tubs placed within them. Or, pupils can look a little further. Hancox says: “There is no reason that if schools are stuck for space they can’t find other ground nearby in parks – there is loads of land, the idea is that the school puts something into the local community.”

And it is not hard to grow them. “It is really low maintenance, once they are in they really look after themselves.”

Some might think that planting a tree now would mean a wait of a number of years before fruit appears. But Hancox says: “The trees that we are planting this year at Drummore should have a few fruit on them by the autumn. They are two-year-old trees we are putting in, so they have grown for a while. It is probably only two or three years before there is a proper crop.” The plum trees to be planted will take slightly longer to fruit – about four years – but still a short enough timescale for many of the pupils within the school to sample them. Already around 150 orchards have been planted over five years at schools from Dumfries and Galloway to the Highlands.

For Carol Gorman, teacher and eco co-ordinator at Drummore School, it makes perfect sense and at roughly £15 a tree is well worth the money. She says: “It is not a massive outlay for what you get in return.” The project has taught many pupils, particularly in areas like Drumchapel, exactly where their food comes from. Gorman says: “It really helps the children’s learning; knowing the changes in seasons, knowing about lifecycles of plants and the weather and how that influences the environment. But it also helps children’s health and gives them a healthier lifestyle, and also teaches them that you can grow fruit – some of them aren’t aware. If you ask them where you get apples from, they will say a shop.”

At the end of the last academic year, Glasgow City Council stopped allocating free fruit to schools, something Gorman hopes will be overcome with the orchard – especially for children from deprived backgrounds. She says: “They will benefit from it; a lot of our kids maybe won’t get fruit at home and are on poor diets.”

Eventually an enterprise element to the orchard is planned with children encouraged to sell bags of apples to their families. Apple Days are also in the pipeline with people invited to sample all things apple, including pies, crumbles, jelly and juice. “I would like to celebrate it with the community, it is not a school alone thing,” says Gorman.

But what do the children think? Ten-year-old Shannon McGeowan is hooked. She says: “There is nothing I don’t like about apples – I like eating them on their own, but my favourite thing is throwing them and catching them. I am looking forward to more trees being planted. It will look absolutely lovely and it helps the environment. The trees help wildlife like birds, squirrels and sometimes little insects.” Stephen Lamb, also aged 10, likes the health benefits of eating apples. He says: “They taste nice and are better than sweets. We eat them and give them to family and friends.”

Headteacher Pat Podmore says the enthusiasm children discover at school age will last through to adulthood. She says: “Anything to encourage them to eat more fruit is good. It is the health of their whole life you are talking about here; you take these habits for exercise and for diet into adult life.”

Orchards have been present in Scotland as far back as the 5th and 6th centuries when they were planted by monasteries. The thriving industry grew until the industrial revolution and was centred on the Clyde Valley and the Carse of Gowrie, along the Firth of Tay, although many orchards were found across the country.

Much of the Clyde Valley fruit was used in the production of jams whereas the Carse of Gowrie orchards supplied fresh produce to the local area, including Perth and Dundee. At one point an estate within the Carse of Gowrie had 10,000 fruit trees, but only one now remains.

In the later part of the 20th century two-thirds of orchards disappeared, lost to an increase in the number of supermarkets able to provide a year-round supply of cheap fruit from across the world. Now around 70 per cent of apples sold in Britain are imported – an industry worth more than £300 million.

In recent years, however, interest in preserving and planting orchards has increased with the benefits to local communities being recognised. The Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society has also actively campaigned for more orchards, not least to keep growing about 40 species of apple indigenous to Scotland.

Hancox believes the new orchards can help revive the fortunes of forgotten species of apples. He says: “They are good to keep the old apple varieties going, things like the Golden Pippin which date back to the 1600s.”

But for 11-year-old Alex Reid at Drummore School it’s more simple. He says: “I like being outside because you can play with your friends and make sure the trees are OK and put water on them if they are too dry. It is so much fun and when they grow we can pick them. You can make stuff like apple pie, apple crumble and apple juice.”

• For more information go to www.fruitfulschools.com