THE seeds of future learning were sown when reception pupils at Greenford School spent a day learning all about how plants grow.

The youngsters at the Maiden Newton school were joined for the day by Dr Dave Aplin, the former director of The Kingcombe Centre in Toller Porcorum and former curator of the national Botanic Garden of Belgium.

He and his wife Rebecca showed the children all seeds great and small and helped them with a wide range of activities including growing cress on cotton wool, creating colourful collages using seeds of all different shapes, sizes and colours, and using drama to learn how and why bees pollinate flowers.

Dave also brought in some seeds to show the pupils, ranging from the largest in the world – a massive double coconut seed – to the smallest, which are pollen-sized and come from orchids.

Dave said: “My son Ben is in this class and it’s amazing what the children are doing, they learn such interesting things.

“It is great to provide children with the opportunity to investigate nature and gardening. In many cases it is about ‘opening the eyes’ of children so that they know that food plants don’t come from supermarkets but have origins elsewhere.

“While this notion is evident in large towns and cities it is also true in the countryside.

“If we can connect people with plant life then they will understand and respect it.”

• Greenford opened in 1980 following the closure of three former village schools at Maiden Newton, Cattistock and Toller Porcorum.

• It is a part of the Beaminster school pyramid.

• At its last Ofsted inspection in 2009 the school was reported to be of ‘good’ standard.

• The school has 130 pupils aged between four and 11.