Oh to be at Springfield, now that summer’s here

Pupils and their families at Springfield Primary School in Sunbury have had one more reason to enjoy the summer term this year following the latest developments in the area of the school grounds known as the Woodland Walk.

In recent years, the space, featuring a pond, trees and wild flowers, had fallen into something of a state of disrepair, so last year the school’s science leader Mrs Bianchi decided to set up a programme to revive the Woodland Walk for the greater benefit of the school and wider community.

Having enlisted the help of the Spelthorne Historic Society to help with the clean-up, she then succeeded in gaining a £10,000 National Lottery grant to develop the area as an outdoor learning space, featuring a gazebo, and since then ideas have been coming in thick and fast on how to make the most of the revived Woodland Walk.

This year parents and pupils have been helping further clear the area and neighbouring allotment spaces, and now the school has a newly-tidied outdoor classroom which has been put to great use in the summer sun.

“This has been a wonderful experience for the whole school,” said head teacher Bethan Smith. “Since Mrs Bianchi had the vision to get the project up and running, everyone has really  ought into it, and the fact that the improvements have been so visible for all to see has given the whole project a real sense of momentum and achievement.

“Securing lottery funding was a massive boost, and we’re looking forward to the next stage of the scheme, which involves encouraging new wildlife habitats, which will obviously be great for nature studies. It’s not just  Springfield that’s going to benefit, however – we’re part of the GLF schools chain, and we hope the new outdoor classroom can be used by the Science Network across other members of the GLF family as well, so everyone can get the best out of this wonderful facility.”