Two schools and a welfare group in Northamptonshire benefit from housebuilder donations

Two schools and a welfare group in Northamptonshire have benefited from donations made by housebuilders.

Roade Primary School, Magdalen College School in Brackley and Home-Start in Northampton have all been awarded separate £1,000 grants.

Persimmon Homes Midlands is responsible for the primary school and welfare group’s grant, and Redrow South Midlands is the donor behind the college school’s funds.

Roade Primary School’s donation will go towards improving the school’s playing field.

Charlotte Cosgrove, PE subject lead at the school, said: “It is important that the children have a safe place to play, and we would like to thank Persimmon Homes for the kind donation, allowing this to happen.”

Home-Start Northampton, which is run by volunteers who offer regular support, friendship, and practical help to families, preventing family crisis and breakdown, also received £1,000 from the housebuilder.

With the money raised, the organisation will host various events such as picnics, boat trips and days out to the zoo or theme parks.

Claire Dearsley, sales director of Persimmon Homes Midlands, said: “We are delighted to be able to directly support one of the primary schools in our local area.

“The field being improved is crucial for the wellbeing of the children and is important for their personal growth.

“Our Community Champions scheme was established to support projects like this.

“We are also pleased to be able to help with funding for Home-Start Northampton.

“It is such a great cause, and we have no doubt that our donation will go to good use.”

Community Champions offers donations of up to £1,000 to groups and charities, giving back to the community where the housebuilder is working.

For groups working specifically with under-18’s Persimmon Homes has also launched a Building Futures initiative which is planned to share more than £1million across charities and good causes.

The third organisation to receive a grant recently is Magdalen College School in Brackley.

The funds will be used to help resurface the schools’ astro-turf, which is used daily by pupils, in addition to community groups in the evening and during the school holidays.

Ian Colling, headteacher at Magdalen College School said: “This generous donation from Redrow will allow us to provide a brand-new, high-quality Astro-turf for the students and the local community to use.

“We have looked after the previous surface really well so that it has lasted much longer than intended but the time has come for us to provide a much better surface to play on.

“We are extremely grateful to Redrow South Midlands for their generosity.”

Suzanne Irons, sales director for Redrow South Midlands, added: “We are delighted to be supporting Magdalen College School with their fundraising efforts to update the much loved and well used Astro-turf.

“This has been an incredibly challenging year for local communities, but throughout there has been a spirit of resilience and togetherness that has never faltered.

“The Astro-turf is well used by the Brackley community and is loved by both pupils at the school and local community groups across all ages.”