Visitors to Castle Kennedy Gardens are in for a surprise this Friday as Primary 6 & 7s from Castle Kennedy Primary School will be found in charge of several of the Garden’s operations in one of the region’s top visitor attractions during a ‘Kids Takeover Day’.
Mini managers will adopt the following roles: Gardening Team, Shop & Tearoom Assistants, and Marketing Assistant as part of a community engagement programme run by Stair Estates.
The roles are based on real positions held at Castle Kennedy Gardens and children have ‘applied’ for the different positions available, depending on their genuine interest and passions.
The Gardening Team will have the opportunity to talk to the Garden’s permanent Head Gardener, John McArthur of that Ilk, receiving invaluable advice from an expert with more than 25 years’ experience working at Castle Kennedy Gardens. The role will involve them sowing seeds, planting pots and flower beds, edging grass and weeding in the Walled Garden and Plant Centre.
Other pupils will take over the Shop Manager role where they will be responsible for setting up the till and cashing up at the end of the day, welcoming visitors, managing stock items and displaying goods as well as watering plants in the plant centre.
Those with a passion for food and drink will take on the role of Tearoom Assistant, taking customer orders, preparing food, washing up and keeping the Tearoom tidy with lots of helpful advice from permanent staff member Jane Stanistreet.
The children will be also have the opportunity to be involved in Marketing the Gardens drafting social media posts and a blog post that will go live on the Garden’s own website as well as writing up reports describing each of the ‘take over’ positions.
Lady Stair of Stair Estates, said;
“It’s wonderful the children at Castle Kennedy School are looking forward to the day so much which we hope they will enjoy. This is the second time we have organised Kids Takeover Day and it will be exciting to hear about their experiences and read their reports afterwards.
We’re passionate about including children and teenagers at Castle Kennedy Gardens. The Kids Takeover Day helps young people look after the general public and is just one way we can work more closely with the local community. We’re keen to become a community resource and offer the children an opportunity to get involved and to have responsibility for running a business such as this, hopefully inspiring them and providing them with an introduction to these kind of positions.”
Around fourteen young people will be dropped off from Castle Kennedy Primary School and briefed at Castle Kennedy Gardens Tearoom before they take over for the day this Friday 16 June.
All Garden admissions will be donated to Castle Kennedy Primary School.
For more information about Castle Kennedy Gardens Click HERE
