Pupils from St Peter’s School dig in at York Hospital

10:23am Thursday 26th June 2008

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YOUNG volunteers at a York private school are building a garden for patients at the city's hospital.

A team of volunteers from St Peter's School are undertaking a renovation project at York Hospital in one of the courtyard gardens as part of the NHS's 60th birthday celebrations on July 5.

The work being undertaken this week is part of the school's Community Action Project Week.

A similar project last year resulted in a marine themed courtyard and clearance of another neglected area of the hospital grounds.

This year's theme is the solar system with illustration of the planets on the wall and spheres among the plants.

There are 30 16-year-old volunteers, along with members of St Peter's staff, taking part in the project to transform a courtyard from a grey and uninspiring space into a colourful and more interesting place.

St Peter's Community Action co-ordinator Jane Dawson said: "Over 120 pupils are involved regularly in Community Action at St Peter's - the main aim of which is to encourage students to be aware of their local community and to give something back to society, engendering values pupils will then develop throughout their lives."

The school gardeners, together with the maintenance and art departments, have been working with a team from the hospital to agree and implement the new design.

Sho Maekawa, St Peter's head boy, who worked on last year's garden, said: "It's hard graft but it's definitely worth it. It's great to see just what a team of people can do in a week."

Previous Community Action projects include the creation of a sensory garden at The Glen in York, a respite care home for children and young people with complex health needs; cooking meals for ARC Light, York's shelter for the homeless, for a week; and arranging a joint trip to Scarborough for volunteers with ARC Light residents.

A large number of pupils have received volunteering award certificates and some have completed 100 hours of community work. It is unusual for school pupils to reach this level.

St Peter's School is an independent day and boarding co-educational school with 550 pupils.