ONE of these five schools could soon be celebrating winning £7,500 of Olympic-inspired improvements – with your help.
Kingfisher School in Abingdon, New Marston Primary School in Oxford, Launton Primary School, Wheatley Primary School and Edith Moorhouse School in Kidlington have been selected as finalists in the School Olympic Save Our School competition.
For the second year the Oxford Mail has teamed up with Abingdon construction company Leadbitter to offer a £7,500 revamp to one lucky school.
Swimming changing rooms, adventure playgrounds and indoor and outdoor apparatus and climbing equipment are among the improvements that pupils and staff are hoping to be able to fund.
Oxford Mail deputy editor Sara Taylor said: “It was a tough choice picking our finalists, but we thought these five projects had the potential to be really inspiring and change a lot of children’s lives at school.
“Now it is over to pupils, staff, communities and our readers to collect as many of the special tokens we’ll be printing in the Mail from Monday.”
Leadbitter regional director Richard Nixon said: “I thoroughly enjoyed sitting down with the team and reading the applications.
“There was lots of stuff to go through and I thought it was of a very high standard. Obviously a lot of effort had been put in by pupils and staff.”
NEW MARSTON PRIMARY Children from New Marston Primary School’s Year Five class have led the school’s application, conceiving and suggesting what the school would most benefit from.
They want permanent goal posts in their field, Olympic-related sports equipment including javelins, high jump bars and crash mats, and to design and paint the school sports hall themselves.
PE co-ordinator Russell Wood said: “New Marston Primary School has made a huge effort to reach out to the local community, and the grounds are used by many organisations beyond our school.
“They would all benefit from improved equipment.”
Among the handwritten children’s letters supporting the application was one from pupil Georgie Collier.
She said: “Please help us achieve our goals which will help us pupils at the school now and pupils of the future.”
WHEATLEY PRIMARY WHEATLEY Primary School is hoping to transform its facilities so that children can enjoy them in all weathers.
Pupils want new changing rooms near the school swimming pool, archery targets, bows and arrows, javelins, a basketball net and a balance beam, along with improvements to the play area surface.
PTA committee member Paula Hood said: “The children had great fun discussing their ideas for a sport-themed play area.
“We like to try to use the play area in all weathers to promote physical development and to encourage children to undertake and enjoy physical exercise from an early age.
“The quad can only be used when the weather is dry.”
LAUNTON PRIMARY LAUNTON Primary School is currently having a new school hall built on its existing playground — meaning the school field is the only playing space.
Pupils are appealing for cash for indoor and outdoor apparatus and climbing equipment.
Teacher Mandy Terry, who led the bid, said: “With access to indoor and outdoor equipment, the children will be able to naturally develop co-ordination, agility and strength.
“Our new hall will be the place where we have our indoor PE sessions but there is no money to furnish it with indoor equipment.”
Larraine Loosley, who has children at the school, wrote one of the letters supporting the application, above. She said: “I feel that the school would benefit enormously from outdoor and indoor sporting and play equipment.”
KINGFISHER SCHOOL, ABINGDON KINGFISHER School, which cares for children aged two to 19 with severe, profound and multiple learning difficulties, is seeking the money for an outdoor covered area and a makeover for the existing sensory garden.
The outdoor covered area would give children somewhere to sit under and play under cover from sun and rain, particularly the large number of pupils who use wheelchairs.
Children already help maintain the sensory garden but it needs a more substantial makeover to offer different sensations to children with various impairments.
Teaching assistant Sue Tucker, who is behind the application, said: “Our aim is to provide an environment that will ensure opportunities for all pupils to develop intellectually, physically and emotionally to their full potential.
“It would also be lovely to have more colour and activities around the walls of the playground for the pupils to play with at break times.”
EDITH MOORHOUSE SCHOOL, KIDLINGTON EDITH Moorhouse School is hoping to win the cash to spend on upgrading its activity centre and adventure playground area.
In its application, the school described its existing adventure playground as “outdated and damaged”, including a section which was condemned in the autumn term last year and had to be removed.
Deputy headteacher Sam Bartholomew said: “It would be a great opportunity for children to have the challenge and use their free time to improve their strength, agility and fitness to become better athletes in the future.”
He said the facility could help improve children's overall health, provide access to physical activities for children of all abilities, improve balance and core strength and aid hand-eye co-ordination, among other benefits.
He added: “All of these factors can be attributed to aiding youngsters in following their dreams and ambitions, whether they turn their attentions to athletics and the future Olympics or they want to become marine biologists and go diving or our future service personnel.”
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