Pershore school wins Lottery grant

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CHILDREN at a Pershore primary school have been given an early Christmas present which will make learning a whole lot more fun.

Holy Redeemer Catholic Primary School found out it will receive just under £10,000 from the BIG Lottery Fund this week as part of its popular small grants programme, Awards for All.

The money, a total of £9,930, will be used to build an outdoor classroom, climbing wall and den for pupils at the Priest Lane school.

Christina Hall, headteacher of Holy Redeemer, said: "Being awarded this grant has caused so much excitement amongst the children in the school.

"It has very much been their project from the very beginning. As we are a small primary school in Worcestershire, we are amongst the worst funded schools in the country on a per head of pupil basis. This means that we cannot afford to spend any money on non essential items such as developing the playground.

"Without this grant the children would have had to continue to play on a bare playground and stretch of astro-turf. The children, staff, parents and wider community of Holy Redeemer Catholic Primary School extend a very excited thank you to the Big Lottery."

More than £666,000 of the festive funding will be shared between 82 projects in the region, including primary schools working hard to improve the lives of future generations through engaging children in creative, extracurricular outdoor play.

John Taylor, Big Lottery Fund head of the West Midlands region, added: "It is very inspiring to read about all these school community projects at this special time of year. It is extremely important that schools are receiving the funding that is needed to ensure children are getting the best start in life. Each project will make a huge difference and improvements going forward into the New Year."

Organisations throughout England with an income of £30,000 or less now have the opportunity to apply for repeat and ongoing activities under Awards For All until the end of March 2013.

For more information visit www.awardsforall.org.uk.

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