Pupils at West Earlham Infant & Nursery School in Norwich can now enjoy a refreshed outdoor space to play and learn in thanks to volunteers from local organisations.
Business in the Community (BITC) and Groundwork East arranged a volunteering day attended by over 20 volunteers from several local businesses to improve the school’s grounds.
Volunteers spent the day installing a new fence, planting a mixed hedgerow, repainting a shed, and adding enhanced safety and privacy features for one of the school’s outdoor spaces, which is used by staff and pupils for both playing and learning.
As well as volunteering on the day, not-for-profit affordable housing provider Orbit sponsored the event, whilst community and environmental charity, Groundwork East, provided the equipment and expertise for volunteers to use.
Paul Eardley, Orbit’s Place Investment and Partnership Leads for the East, commented: “We value the role we play in our local communities and were delighted to get involved with a fantastic volunteering initiative in support of West Earlham Infant and Nursery School. It was brilliant to join several local organisations on the day to help create a new-look outdoor space for the school which we hope the children and staff will enjoy for many years to come.”
Tracey Brown-Drake, Head of Place for Norwich at Business in the Community (BITC), said: “Our Place programme is about unlocking the power of business to support local communities. Bringing organisations together in this way in support of West Earlham Infant & Nursery School shows how small acts, delivered collectively, can make a real and lasting difference.”
Robert Horn, Senior Project Officer at Groundwork East, said: “Groundwork East were delighted to continue supporting the school with improvements to the outdoor areas. Together, we protected the raised beds with a new fence, bamboo roll-lined the existing railings for more privacy, planted a mixed hedgerow, repainted the shed and much more. We achieved a lot with teamwork and sponsorship from local companies and volunteers.”
Headteacher of West Earlham Infant & Nursery School, Jade Hunter, added: “We are so grateful to this group of local organisations for the enhancements they’ve kindly made to our school grounds. We are absolutely delighted with our new-look grounds, which will help us give the children more opportunities to both play and learn outside. Thank you to everyone involved for their wonderful support of our school.”
The organisations involved in the volunteering day at West Earlham Infant & Nursery School were BITC, Groundwork East, Orbit, Howes Percival, The Jarrold Group, CityFibre, OCU, CITB and Barhale Construction.