The Bishop of Winchester Academy join forces A-One Insurance Group and win the Schools in Bloom competition

A-One Insurance Group sponsored a group of students from the Wellbeing Centre at The Bishop of Winchester Academy (TBOWA) from years 7, 8 & 9 to design, plant and maintain their very own container garden for their Schools of Bloom competition.

The students Oliver Beedy, Natalia Bach, Jade Sheldon, Ethan Cutler, and Zaki Gharnaout and a team from A-One Insurance Group spent two hours every Wednesday designing and working alongside one another to create the containers to the theme, "Happy Birthday Your Majesty" in relation to the Queen’s 90th birthday.

Oliver and Ethan's design saw the students receive first place in the competition with their winning piece which was the creation of a union jack flag made up of lobelia, petunias and verbena. They also designed a plant stand complete with the number ‘90’ in yellow marigolds and red arrows flying across the sky with red, white and blue bunting.

The staff from A-One Insurance Group’s Property, Claims, Commercial and Operations departments assisted the students in making the plant stand, planting their chosen flowers, watering, dead heading and maintaining their containers.

Lia Martin and some of the team from A-One Insurance Group attended a special presentation in the Council Chamber at the Town Hall where the winners received a Gold merit for the 'Wicker Planter' category.

Said Amanda Hooper, Vice Principal of TBOWA, "It has been great fun for the students to get involved with the team from A-One Insurance Group - learning how to design, plant and maintain a garden. We thank A-One Insurance Group tremendously for their sponsorship and hands on help with the planting and maintenance".

Lia Martin, Director of Corporate Partnerships, said "Our staff have really enjoyed working alongside the students on their Schools in Bloom entry and have found working with the students very rewarding. We hope to return next year and to be involved with some other categories and we are so delighted the students won their category - not that we are competitive!”