School outdoor space transformed with volunteer help

A garden woodland and grounds at a village primary school have been transformed with the help of 60 volunteers.

Parents, children and staff at St Mary’s School in Broughton Gifford gave up their time to make the outdoor space a more interactive and fun environment for learning.

Charlotte Godsiffe from the Friends of St Mary’s said, “Fuelled by sausages and cake, we got a huge amount done in a day.

“We enlarged the school garden, which is used by our pupils to grow crops such as sweetcorn, runner beans, herbs and fruit, installed a wildlife pond, created a living willow arbour and are planning to install additional seating as an extra outside learning facility and a water play wall in September. In our woodland, we cleared the paths and learning spaces and created additional play features.”

Funding for the project was raised through the school’s recent sponsored ‘Mary-thon’ run earlier in the year, which raised £3,000.

“It was brilliant to see the project come to fruition with all our volunteer help,” said Charlotte. “The generosity of the whole village community is hugely appreciated in allowing this to happen.”