Tracey Kinder is well into the first year of her Melbourne University horticulture degree at Burnley – and while she owes much to her Kilvington teachers over the past 10 years she has an unsung hero who boosted her enthusiasm in the lead up to the VCE exams last year.

Peter Woolfrey, school curator at Kilvington Girls Grammar in Ormond, was in charge of Pave the Way, a special project to construct a new garden with signature pavers. When the time came for planting he gave Tracey the job and within weeks she came up with the goods.

"Tracey had a very mature approach to the design and planting, a good knowledge of plants and took on board the brief that I gave her," says Peter.

The project was done in concert with Tracey’s teachers who knew that the 18-year-old had her sights set on horticulture as a career. She had heard that the old cracked concrete was to be transformed into a beautiful new setting with special pavers and she jumped at the chance to be part of the team.

"I always passed the area on the way to history class and was curious to know what they were going to do with it. I’ve always loved gardening and had an aspiration to use my passion later as a career path," she says.

"Peter and his colleague, Scott Walton, were working with the teachers on the planning and they were really keen to have the students involved. Peter walked me through the garden concept and told me some of the ideas he already had.

"I had to choose which plants were going to be used in the project and where they would be planted. I was given a basic plan of where the path and the existing trees were as well as some details about the area and what kinds of plants were needed."

Tracey says she encountered a few challenges but nothing insurmountable. "Prickly or poisonous plants are not good for kids, neither are ones that break easily under feet. So I had to study lots of books to find the right ones that were not just kid-friendly, but also drought-resistant and pretty. The rose garden next to it outside Dalton Hall meant that it needed to flow from one garden to the other and blend. The big gum tree was really difficult to work with as it sucked the soil dry and created shade.

She chose pieres, she says, because Peter mentioned that he needed something "oriental" to fit in with the Japanese tables setting. The flax was hardy and provided a different foliage color to the garden. It was also to be a thick screen to give ‘walls’ to the garden. The kangaroo paw and correa dusty bells were native Australian plants and provided flowers.

"Working with Peter gave me a chance to find out how he had used the Burnley course and what might be in store for me. This is what’s so wonderful about Kilvington. Everybody knows everybody and it is all so friendly. Because of the small class sizes every student gets attention. The teachers know you – even the non-academic staff like Peter and Scott know you – and they become friends and mentors."

Peter, a Burnley graduate, jumped at the chance to lead the garden project when he was told that Middle School Team Leader Mrs Bronnie Dean wanted to involve the girls in an environmental project. Peter had already drawn up some plans to transform the area into something functional, aesthetically acceptable and, if possible, beautiful.

"I was also becoming involved in the school’s approach to sustainability so it all started to come together. Funding the project depended on the sale of signature pavers where parents, students, staff and former students would be invited to buy individual brick pavers inscribed with their names.

"Bronnie and I wanted to get the students involved so that they had a sense of ownership," says Peter. "If the students were going to use the area they should have a say in the design. Like all outdoor areas in a school with limited outdoor space, this new design had to be able to cater for many purposes – an outdoor classroom, a lunch area with some private spaces, an access garden and an aesthetically pleasing environment for those within and for those approaching the school from Lillimur Road."

Peter says that the students’ ideas for the design were not only impressive but they also helped the entire project to "flow". He built the chairs, the path, the wall, decking and light structure – and even donated a steel sculpture that he made at home.

"I designed the sculpture with a children’s garden in mind so it seemed appropriate to donate it to this garden," he says. "I wanted to create a piece that was big, strong, resilient, requiring no maintenance and easy to install.

"The work of art doesn’t have a name. I have designed several - all from steel plate. Inspiration comes from nature but they leave room for the imagination and that’s why none have names. Actually everything in the new garden is placed with a specific purpose in mind – including the annual Japanese tea ceremonies that link with the school’s cultural exchange program.

"The brick wall divides the garden and is there to provide a base for future student mosaic art," says Peter. "The garden has plenty of seating for people to eat their lunches which is important because of its closeness to the canteen. In time the plants will provide some division as well as plenty of color. They are low maintenance and will require little water once established."

The garden initiative was so successful that a second similar project is already under way to lay a "Friendship Walk" with signature pavers to connect the new area with the entrance to Dalton Hall – the school’s main assembly hall. Peter has nothing but praise for the Kilvington students involved with the garden project: "Students have a great imagination when it comes to design," he says.

And Tracey’s verdict? "I’m so proud of the new garden! It’s something I can actually see finished now and look back on as a first project. It’s an awesome feeling to sit on one of Peter’s benches and look at the garden I helped to design. It’ll be something that I feel I had a hand in and I can see at reunions. I hope everyone gets as much pleasure from it as I did.

"And, hey, for me it took education outside the four walls of the classroom and allowed me to work with experts in their fields… and it was a nice way to slide from secondary school into horticulture at Melbourne Uni!"

As Disraeli said: "How fair is a garden amid the trials and passions of existence" – especially the trials and passions of final year of secondary school.