Office for Climate Education
0

A compost station for the school

School groundsCP (Grade 1)CE1 (Grade 2)CE2 (Grade 3)CM1 (Grade 4)CM2 (Grade 5)English

Submitted by Camille Démo, Collège Jean-Moulin, Paris · published on September 18, 2026

Collect fruit peels and lunch scraps, and give the compost back to tired soil in the school garden or the neighbourhood.

What you need

A compost bin, a garden fork, collecting buckets for the canteen, a thermometer, gloves.

How it works

Pupils start a compost bin at school and feed it with fruit peels and lunch scraps. The finished compost adds rich nutrients back into dusty or tired soil.

Pupils standing behind their compost and recycling bins, holding up posters
  1. Choose a shady corner of the school grounds and set up the bin.

  2. Make a poster: what goes in (peels, leaves, cardboard), what stays out (meat, plastic).

  3. Set up a weekly rota: collect, mix, check moisture and temperature.

  4. After a few months, compare a pot of plain soil with a pot of soil and compost.

Going further. A “puzzle piece” garden: plant corn, beans and squash together so that they help each other grow, and compare with a single-crop bed.

Young children and a teacher working in raised beds in a school garden

Comments

No comments yet. Tried this activity with your pupils? Tell other teachers how it went.

Log in with your teacher account to comment.

Log in