Knowles Junior School has won this year’s search for Milton Keynes’ tallest sunflower by The Parks Trust. The annual sunflower competition was held between all primary schools in the city and Knowles Junior School’s winning sunflower reached a towering 357cm, breaking last year’s record of 294cm.

Each primary school in Milton Keynes was given some sunflower seeds to grow their own sunflowers and asked to measure it weekly to see which school managed to grow the tallest flower. The Parks Trust compared the heights of all sunflowers from all entries and Knowles Junior School was a resounding winner. Orchard School came second in the competition with a sunflower measuring 328cm.

Rachel Sutton, Education Ranger at The Parks Trust, said: “Knowles Junior School has done a great job in nurturing their sunflower as part of their Gardening Club. Sunflowers are great plants for inspiring children to discover more about nature in a fun and exciting way. At a fantastic 3 metres and 57cm its height has set the standard for next year’s competition.”

The winning school was awarded a variety of wildlife prizes for their school, including a bird box and feeder with a digital camera and a specially commissioned trophy painting of a sunflower.

The competition was supported by Sutton Seeds through the donation of sunflower seeds and Reflections on Learning which provided the wildlife gardening prizes. “We’re very grateful to Sutton Seeds and Reflections on Learning for their generous support for the competition. The ability to provide seeds and prizes to schools for free, plays a vital role in ensuring we can invite all schools to participate in the competition.”