Bradford Estates provides backing for Shropshire school's outdoor learning area
Pupils at a Shropshire primary school are taking their learning outdoors thanks to a donation of equipment from neighbouring landed estates business Bradford Estates.
Children at Sheriffhales Primary School are enjoying a variety of outdoor learning experiences after their school received help for their woodland learning area from Bradford Estates.
The learning area consists of a hideout, fire pit and cooking equipment, children’s gardening tools and a storage shed, all to enhance the pupils learning by improving their outdoor area.
The landed estates business, which manages 12,000 acres on the Shropshire and Staffordshire borders, made the donation of equipment earlier this year to help the school to establish a large garden allotment and forest school area.
Sheriffhales Primary School Headteacher Justine Keeling-Paglia said: “We want to say a huge thank you to the generous donation from Bradford Estates.
"The funding has helped us to transform a disused piece of land at the back of the school into an exciting and engaging outdoor learning area for our pupils.
“We want our pupils to be happy, healthy, and resilient citizens who treat the world with kindness and respect and the new area has allowed us to weave rich outdoor learning experiences into all aspects of the national curriculum, as well as supporting our Forest School provision.
“Our pupils have thoroughly enjoyed working together to create the area, shovelling soil, planting seeds in the vegetable patches and using their problem-solving skills to work as a team.
“The learning area has unified the entire school and community. We have had so much support and hard work from children, parents, friends of the school and the local community and we are deeply grateful to them and all those who have donated time and resources to make this wonderful area.Our year six pupils will be the first to use the fire pit for a leaver’s celebration event – they’ll even cook some of the food they’ve grown!”
Bradford Estates managing director Alexander Newport and his wife Eliza visited Sheriffhales to see the outdoor learning area in use.
Alexander said: “It was great to see the learning area and hear about the benefits Sheriffhales have seen in such a short space of time. The area is a fantastic addition to the school, incorporating learning with practical life skills.”
Aligned to its principle of stewardship, Bradford Estates’ charitable activities are centred around a commitment to supporting education in the local community.
