We are a large community Primary School in the North of Coventry. Last May we were devastated when our well respected Head Teacher Paul Ryan died, very unexpectedly, after an allergic reaction to a prescribed medicine. As normal, he had been at work in school on the Tuesday and then very sadly passed away on the Thursday. As you can imagine as a school and for his family it was and is a very difficult time.

As a Head Teacher he encouraged outdoor learning, particularly due to lack of natural spaces in the local area. In order to respect and honour his memory we would like to create a memorial garden within the schools grounds, maximising the use of the area pictured above.

When we first learnt of Paul's death, the children reacted in very different ways, some were sad, some were angry and some were bewildered and did not want to talk about it. For a lot of them it was their first experience of death and it was very sudden and shocking. For his family and our school, creating the memorial garden would bring us together and help us heal and move forward. The garden would be part of the support we can provide for the community.

The children have been involved at all points in ideas for the design of the garden and the fundraising collected so far. We proudly, have managed to raise £1500 as a school, through donations and sponsored events, but we do not feel that this is enough to really do justice to the work that Paul Ryan started in our school and the memorial the children would like to make for him. If we could raise more it would enable us to provide a truly great memorial garden.

By improving part of the grounds of the school all the 450 children and 60 staff at the school would benefit, as well as allowing us to provide a fitting tribute to a great Head Teacher!