MILITARY offenders serving time in the glasshouse at Colchester have prepared the ground for green-fingered children to enjoy learning outdoors.

A team of five detainees from the Military Corrective Training Centre, in Berechurch Hall Road, helped create a sensory garden and vegetable patch at Monkwick Infant School and Nursery.

Teacher Emma Smith said the soldiers had built fences and an archway alongside raised beds. Parents chipped in, building a shed.

She added: “We want to develop our school grounds to encourage children to get outdoors and learn. We’ve got after-school gardening and cooking clubs, and the hope is we can grow and cook our own vegetables. We loved having the soldiers in school.”