Employees from Southern Electric Power Distribution (SEPD) visited Lanesend Primary School in Cowes on the Isle of Wight to carry out a makeover on the Year 6 courtyard as part of SSE’s Community at Heart programme.
The area until now had been off limits to the children as it had not been touched since they moved there in the last couple of years.
SEPD staff have previously visited the school on three occasions to help develop the outdoor areas and have already started planning their next visit during the summer holidays.
The team of nine, which included fitters, team managers, jointers and an IT technician, spent the whole day power washing the paving slabs, painting fences, removing old plants, adding a water feature and putting new wall art up.
Team leader Joe Flux, who works as a Project Manager at SEPD’s Isle of Wight depot and has strong connections with the school, said:
“As my wife is a governor for the school and we have a son and step daughter there too, I wanted to do something to help improve the outdoor area. This was in a poor state of repair when the school was relocated here, however this made an excellent community project and with some TLC we were able to transform the playground.
“The highlight of our day has to be the school dinners. Sausage and mash with flapjack and custard for pudding. It was like going back in time!”
Caroline Sice, Headteacher, said “We wanted this area developed to provide an outside space for Year 6 to use as an unsupervised lunch area in preparation for their transition to secondary school. We applied for the scheme as we don’t have the manpower or expertise to carry out this sort of project ourselves. It is now a fabulous area for the children to use both at lunchtime and as an outdoor classroom.”
Since the launch of the Community at Heart scheme, volunteers from SEPD (part of the SSE group) have been involved in over 1,400 projects across Britain and Ireland and have spent over 16,500 days making a difference in the communities in which they live and work.
To find out more about how they can help your community visit http://www.sse.com/Community/ for more information.