Botanic Garden to celebrate 100,000th school visitor

The highly popular education programme run by the University of Leicester Botanic Garden is celebrating its 100,000th visitor this summer.

Townlands Church of England Primary School, Leicester, was one of the first schools to visit when the Botanic Garden's education programme started up in 1993 and the school is bringing two groups of children to the Botanic Garden's satellite facility, the Attenborough Arboretum, later this month (June 2011).

The Botanic Garden education programmes are aimed mainly at primary and secondary schools. They have been developed to promote the garden and Attenborough Arboretum as an educational resource, emphasising a global perspective in the National Curriculum.

Director Richard Gornall said: "Tuesday 28th June will be a very special day for us. Townlands Primary School was one of the first schools to visit us in the early days of our education programme, back in 1993, when they were kind enough to act as guinea-pigs for our first activities.

"Since that time, the scope and popularity of what we offer has grown hugely and I am very pleased to welcome Townlands back on what is now their fourteenth visit to us.

"It is especially pleasing and fitting that, according to our records, one of the children in their class will be our 100,000th school visitor."