"I like to plant things to make our school look nice." Jack Murphy Bennett loves being a member of the gardening club at Lower Fields Primary School in Fenby Avenue.

"I like all the tools we use - the spades, forks, trowels and rakes, and I like watching things grow."

The nine-year-old's classmate Daniel Lee also loves the produce which the children harvest after the hard work of planting seeds and tending their crops. "The gooseberries are well tangy. You get to learn about all the different fruits, and ones that you have never heard of before."

The successful club is partly funded by Bradford's Children's University which includes environmental projects among the areas in which it supports schools across the district.

At Lower Fields, as well as horticultural work, the partnership has also helped the school reclaim a large, formerly overgrown area of the vast grounds that is now home to a wildlife haven. This forms an outdoor classroom' for the youngsters to learn about nature and the environment.

And this week, the Fenby Avenue school is hosting the first children's university Eco Camp, for youngsters who have a special interest in learning about the natural environment.

"It is aimed at children who like to learn by doing rather than sitting at desks," says Children's University co-ordinator Victoria Foxley-Sayles.

Thirty children from three primary schools - Lower Fields, Newhall Park Primary School in Bierley and Usher Street Primary off Wakefield Road - are attending the camp.

Throughout this week, children will learn all about how to care for the environment, both locally and globally, covering issues such as gardening, looking after wildlife, recycling and global warming.

The camp will include work with members of Bradford Community Environment Project (BCEP) and Bradford Environmental Education Service (BEES), as well as environmental regeneration charity the Groundwork Trust. There will also be a session with an artist and a visit to a waste recycling depot.

"The children will be involved in activities such as making posters to raise awareness about what children can do to help the planet," says Victoria. "It which will end in a celebration event at Grattan Stadium in Odsal."

The camp - which is funded by the Children's University - is a pilot project which could be repeated in the coming years.

Bradford's Children's University has been running for two years and has worked with more than 100 primary schools, 11 secondary schools and two special schools. It has also worked with the private sector, community and voluntary organisations.

A non-profit organisation, it is responsible for promoting and funding "out-of-hours learning focusing on science, technology, engineering and maths".

"We offer £500 to all schools to draw up a ten-week learning module," says Victoria. "The modules can then be made available to other schools who can follow them if they want to. They don't have to follow them - the idea is to inspire.

"We visit the school and meet the children. Either the school draws up a module, helped by us, or we can do it for them."

The resulting activity, which should be fun as well as educational, is then archived at the university's base in central Bradford.

The university plans to introduce more environmental projects. Adds Victoria: "We would like to link them in with businesses to enable the children to learn entrepreneurial skills. Possibilities like making money from recycling, things like that."

Earlier this year a sustainable construction competition was held at the University of Bradford, in which children from four primary and three secondary schools designed and built a model of a sustainable house using recycled materials. The eco-home also had to have at least three sustainable energies included in its design.

John Edwards, head teacher at Lower Fields - which works with Bradford Community Environment Trust too - said: "We are trailblazing. Young children are far more aware of environmental issues than older generations.

"The gardening club is a big hit. We can build on work the children do in the classroom in a practical way.

"The children sold some of their garlic to a local butcher and they have won prizes at West Yorkshire Organic Horticultural Society. It is great."

Eleven-year-old Emma Steer certainly thinks so. "It is one of the best clubs I have ever been to," she says. "I like the fact that we don't just grow flowers and trees. We have been picking strawberries that we grew, and we ate some of them. And we grew lovely carrots and spring onions which I hadn't tried before."

Adds nine-year-old Preeya Kaur: "We are learning a lot. Every time I go to the club I learn new things about plants and nature."

  • The Children's University was set up as a result of a feasibility study carried out by Bradford Vision, the local strategic partnership. For details call Victoria Foxley-Sayles on (01274) 234611 or e-mail vikki@childrensuniversity.co.uk.