Northampton primary school receives £10,000 cash boost for new outdoor play area and stage

Collingtree Church of England Primary School has been awarded a £10,000 National Lottery “Awards for All” grant after younger pupils, who study at the split-site school, only had a plain concrete area where they could play.

Headteacher Richard Albert said: "While our staff were able to provide fun and engaging activities to meet the needs of both the children and the curriculum, we made it a priority to improve this area. Having previously secured funding through the Diocese of Peterborough to create an outdoor classroom, we wanted to further develop the area to challenge the pupils both physically and creatively. In the current climate, with school budgets becoming increasingly tight, funding for such developments is a necessity and so we applied to the National Lottery and were delighted to be successful."

He added: "Even though the installation was only completed this week, we have already seen less confident children developing their adventurous skills on the climber - our staff have overheard the children asking one another to “walk the plank!” when using the climber imaginatively as a pirate ship.

"The musical stage is a great tool for enabling our children to develop their artistic, expressive and communication skills and again developing their social and imaginative skills. We now have both boys and girls performing as music and dance stars on the stage."