Ilminster Division County Councillor, Linda Vijeh, met up with Swanmead Head Teacher Mark Walker this week, together with pupils Elouise Aspinall and Harry Paul, to hand over a cheque for £1,000 from Somerset County Council's Health & Wellbeing fund.
The school is particularly proud of its strong community links and plans to use the money to boost funds to develop 'out of classroom' activities. This will be done by purchasing resources to enable all children at the school to have five hours learning based on gardening, ecology and enterprise.
The vision is to develop an onsite gardening area complete with greenhouse, flower beds and vegetable patches, to develop the germination of seeds and their initial growth into plants. There are also plans to create an onsite allotment (approximately 15m x 15m) with different sections used by different groups of children and community groups such as local Nursery Groups and The Lions Club.
The enterprising part of the project would be to harvest the vegetables and sell the produce at our local town market. Thus giving the children a full picture of primary industry and its link to business and enterprise.
The pond, which had become overgrown, will also be given a facelift to develop its potential and use for work in science and geography.
Linda comments, 'I know from speaking with Mr. Walker and others that not all pupils thrive in a classroom environment, and by expanding the range of activities offered all children will be given the chance to develop their own talents in their own way. This in turn will aid improved attendance along with the social, emotional and behavioural development of a small group of younger pupils. In order to kick start these projects the school has been working with local gardeners and building firms, and have budgeted £3,000 overall, so this money will go some way towards helping Swanmead make this happen.'