The Community Trust has helped Stanton Drew School transform playtime.
Children at Stanton Drew School returning from their summer holidays, were thrilled to see that during a quiet August their small playground had been transformed with brand new fixed play equipment including a mini climbing wall, a rolling log with grab rope, slatted bridge and a variety of pole obstacles.
The Pensford, Publow and the Stantons Community Trust awarded a grant of £5500 to supplement £2000 raised by the Friends of Stanton Drew School to enable the School to commission a badly needed upgrade of their play space.
Dieter Cook, Headteacher, explained that when he joined Stanton Drew School in September 2015, one of his first tasks was to consult with the children on all the aspects of school life,
“as a new Head, I needed to gauge how everyone felt about their school. We were extremely pleased to receive feedback that the children thought their school almost perfect, but there was near unanimous agreement that the playground was less than inspirational. It was suggested to me that there may be a Community Trust grant available to help fund a playground project that would not be fundable from our school budgets.”
Sue Osbourne explained,
“Mr Cook and Mr Marriott, Deputy Head, really wanted to achieve a positive outcome for the children following the consultation as the playground definitely need some ‘TLC’ and additional activities. Mr Marriott led a working group of children who helped create a design which is now successfully installed on a green safety surface.”
The Friends of Stanton Drew School, led by Fiona Lewis contributed £2K to the overall cost and the School was able to allocate funds from their capital budget to resurface the football and netball pitch surface which had started to disintegrate and become quite dangerous.
The School isn’t stopping here, Mrs Chidzey, Class 1 teacher, has been busy planting garden boxes and pots and a donated wendy house has helped create an imaginative play area. Mr Cook added,
“we would very much like to add some extra play panels and a number caterpillar and then we will have something for everyone all the time.”
The Trustees of the Community Trust are delighted with the outcome. It’s really important to the children at the school, and also the village that the school is successful at every level and that it continues to be a first choice school for local residents. Schools are an intrinsic part of our village life.
Mr Cook thanked the Trust and the Friends and explained that
“the children have benefitted from an important life experience, that engaging with the initial consultation has identified a wish and then ultimately helped them to deliver their wish. Everyone is delighted.”
