Our school and pre-school are set in the charming small village of Hinton St George, Somerset, and provide an excellent, rounded, education to all its pupils.

With effect from September 1st 2020 Hinton St George First School ceased to be a first school for children aged 4-9 and became a primary school for children aged 4-11. In addition, St Georges Pre-School is part of the school and caters for children aged 2-4. These changes mean that the school now provides for children aged 2-11.

September 2020 saw Year 5 pupils joining the school for the first time. They are being taught within one of the existing two classrooms. The hall continues to be used as a space for teaching specific groups and remains available as a communal meeting space for the whole school. From September 2021, we shall have Year 6 pupils on roll. This offers us an exciting opportunity to re-organise and extend the existing space to the benefit of all the children and staff both now and in the future.

Currently, the pre-school is housed on the first floor of what was, decades ago, the headteachers house. In order to be able to offer appropriate classroom space to the Years 5 and 6 pupils from September 2021 and enlarge the accommodation for the pre-school whilst maintaining the separate hall facility, we plan to provide a new, purpose designed, building on the school field to house the pre-school. Following relatively little re-organisation, this will allow ground floor space within the school building to be refurbished to provide an additional classroom to accommodate the Year 5 and 6 pupils.

The new pre-school building is to be constructed of 2 refurbished shipping containers fitted and insulated to the highest standards. All aspects of the design will enable the needs of an increased number of pre-school children, including those with mobility challenges, to be fully met. Importantly, the siting of the new building will provide direct access to the rich outdoor learning environment the location provides.

Our target date for completion is September 2021 although, if we are unable to raise sufficient funds to relocate the pre-school by that date, we plan to accommodate the year 5 and year 6 children in the school hall as a temporary classroom until such time as we are able to complete the project.

We need to raise approximately £75,000 as a one-off project cost. In the short time since we launched our appeal, our local community has been very supportive and generous and our funds are moving slowly towards our target.

Please support us in our efforts to raise the money required to realise our ambition. Thank you.