Clare Primary School, near Sudbury and Haverhill, shows sustainability with new initiatives

A raft of new initiatives at a Suffolk school including growing and selling its own produce is making it a leader in community-driven sustainability.

This autumn Clare Primary School, part of the Anglian Learning Trust, launched a series of projects that have brought children, parents and the wider community together, led by its Parents, Teachers & Friends Association (PTFA). Highlights include:

• Apple collection and juicing: Families collected local apples that would otherwise have gone to waste, producing 560 bottles of fresh apple juice. Some of this was donated to Clare’s church food bank, while sales raised valuable funds for future projects.

Apple Day was a huge success for the school, which sits equidistant from Haverhill and Sudbury, creating a real buzz among children, staff, and parents as they learned how food that might rot on the ground can be transformed into a healthy product that benefits the school.

The juice was made by a local company in glass bottles with a competition for the label design. This also showed the children the benefit of create local networks to reduce food miles and connect more to the abundance in our local area.

• Growing Nature Academy and polytunnel: With funding from the Vegan Organic Network, the school has installed a new polytunnel and launched a Growing Nature Club as part of a national program they are rolling out called the growing nature academy.

Here children are learning not just how to grow fruit, vegetables, and herbs, but also how to use them for food, health, and wellbeing. Earlier this year, the children grew courgettes which they donated to the local church food bank, and they are now preparing for regular farmers’ markets to share their produce with the wider community.

• Wellbeing Initiatives: Alongside growing, the PTFA has introduced a monthly school tidy-up session, a wellbeing evening for parents, and a forthcoming Wellbeing Week for pupils. These sessions explore how nature, food, sound, and creative activities can support mental health and emotional balance.

The PTFA is eager - as is the school - to be more than a fund-raising organisation but one that supports the growing of a community.

Lorna Stranger, the school’s headteacher, said: “We are so proud of what we have managed to achieve by pulling together as a community.

“The children have learnt about sustainability, where food comes from and the power of what we can do when we work together.

“This has been a wonderful way to inspire the children and we are excited about to many opportunities we will have moving forward thanks to the generous support from the Vegan Organic Network.”

Juliette Bryant, head of the PTFA and founder of the Growing Nature Club, is passionate about teaching children the importance of community, food, herbs, and sustainability:

“We want to give children hands-on experiences that connect them with the land, their health, and their community. It’s not just about growing vegetables—it’s about showing how we can all play a part in creating a healthier, more sustainable future.”

The success of these projects is already being felt across Clare, with more parents, local groups, and residents engaging with the school’s vision.

With the new polytunnel now in use and regular events planned, Clare Community Primary is putting itself firmly on the map as a hub for community-led sustainability