Our history
In 2016, Go Flourish began with an ambitious dream to reconnect children with nature through outdoor learning. Each step of the journey has fuelled our growth, and we’re excited to continue expanding our mission.
The roots of Go Flourish
The first seeds planted
‘Problems experienced in adulthood often have their roots in childhood experiences, so Go Flourish set out to reinstate the relationship between nature and learning that has largely been lost.
Our aim was to introduce gardens into schools locally with the intention that these high-quality, exceptional gardens would support curriculum learning.
Dedicated teaching staff
Through our initial experience working with a local secondary school, we learnt that we had the opportunity to create a far more ambitious response to the challenge than originally envisioned.
It became clear that the gardens needed a full-time teacher gardener to work with teachers, to give a practical application to classroom learning.
The Stats
‘Gardens are
living laboratories, they provide a real-world
situation to learn in.’
From farm to Go Flourish
We began to host children on the farm teaching them to how to garden and to use the food we grow. We finish the morning sessions by eating the lunch we cook.
What we do is simple, but the impact on the children has far surpassed our expectations. The benefits don’t just stay within the garden—they spread to the classroom, to their peers, and even to their families.
Forging ahead
Our original objective, based on providing gardens in local schools, was seen to be too limited. Learning for Sustainability originated in Scotland and has been adopted by other countries. It is now present in a host of wider education improvement work streams across Scottish education such as STEM - Science, technology, engineering, mathematics and training strategy.
Now, Go Flourish is working to show how integrating gardens into the fabric of education is both affordable and effective, supporting broader educational improvements across the country.’
Founder and Trustee
Commemorating David Tomi BE PhD CEng FIChemE MIMarE
“When Go Flourish was nothing more than a kernel of an idea with no substance, David encouraged me in his own razor-sharp way to make sure I approached research academically, and to always tighten what I had written.
With the help of volunteers and our head grower at the time, we spent several months collating an evidence-based document which demonstrated the need to use horticulture to support curriculum learning in schools and outlined how we intended to bring this about in schools.
David was generous with his red pen. He disliked gerunds, a word I had not previously encountered. He said using ‘ings’ superfluously was a weak form of sentence structure! 'Drive the noun' he'd say! Very sadly, David died before we got up and going as a registered charity. One of his last acts was to donate £30,000 to Go Flourish. His portrait hangs in our ‘head office’ which is my office in the house, and from there he keeps an eye on things. He looks rather more benign in the portrait than he was in real life. He had a gimlet eye, missing nothing. He could smell humbug a mile off.
He died on 31st January ’23 and his absence is still very much felt. We think of him often.”
– JJ Gladwin
Be part of the change and help us nurture the future generation
With your support, we can bring the life-changing benefits of outdoor learning and gardening to even more children.
