Town mayor Cllr Alvin Finch and Bracknell in Bloom committee members presented the children with a certificate and a prize of new gardening tools on Tuesday last week.

The judges visited the school, in Lily Hill Road, in July 2013 and were impressed with the variety of plants, displays and the recently finished vegetable planters.

Cllr Finch said, “I’d like to congratulate everyone at Holly Spring Junior School. They’ve achieved wonderful things in such a short space of time through hard work and enthusiasm. I am sure the children will continue to develop their gardening skills and will enter the Your Gardens competition again next year.” Holly Spring Junior School headteacher Trisha Donkin said the children were “very proud”.

“They’ve worked so hard on the garden and it looks absolutely fabulous,” Ms Donkin said. “The children are very inventive, they planted poppies to mark Remembrance Day and last year they grew flowers in the colours of the Olympic rings.

“At the moment there are some amazing chrysanthemums, which are beautiful.They are delighted to have their work recognised. They are very happy to have new children-sized tools to use too.” Holly Spring continues to reap rewards from its green efforts, with the school kitchen using the herbs in meals and children taking fresh fruit and vegetables home.

It was one of six school or youth groups that entered the young gardeners category of the Bracknell Your Gardens competition last year.

The competition is an important part of Bracknell’s entry to the RHS Britain in Bloom campaign.

Last year, Bracknell won a gold medal in the Thames and Chilterns in Bloom regional competition and a Silver Gilt in the national finals.