Our much-loved Primary School moved to new premises three years ago and our children now enjoy excellent basic facilities, but one important thing is missing. OUTDOOR CLASSROOMS are strongly recommended by Ofsted as providing an ideal setting for teaching some subjects away from the conventional classroom setting. Unfortunately, when our new school was being built, funding was not available to provide this facility. With your help we can solve this problem.

The need for an Outdoor Classroom was identified by the school as its highest priority last year, and since then Colwall Rotary has been working behind the scenes to take this project forward. We now have a design and location agreed which is based on a development at a Primary School in Worcestershire. (See photo).

We are delighted to report that Great Western Railway has giving £10,000 to the project, which will become train-themed. Our plan is to do much of the work on site ourselves, with help from parents and volunteers in the community, but we know we will need an additional £10k budget to cover the cost of materials and equipment and to pay for those jobs we cannot tackle ourselves.

The GWR Outdoor Classroom at Colwall Primary School will include an information board describing the history of the railway line between Hereford and London, a special feature constructed from railway sleepers listing all the main stations, and a Friendship Train.

As part of GWRs franchise agreement with the Department for Transport, the train operator is committed to supporting schools, colleges, community and other not-for-profit organisations by aiding a number of initiatives.

Rotary Club secretary Peter Key said:

Colwall is unique in Herefordshire in being the only village with a main line service to London Paddington served by GWR and the history and development of the village has been strongly influenced by the construction of the line linking Hereford and the capital.

The Outdoor Classroom will enable all pupils to benefit from learning in a different environment, as advocated by OFSTED, educating them about the history and significance of the railway to the community through design features such as the information board and railway sleeper feature.

Please help us with a donation and we can then have our OUTDOOR CLASSROOM up and running for the new term starting in September 2021.