Cash Awards Available for London School Grounds Transformation
All schools in London can now apply for a cash award to transform their grounds into an environment for learning, creative play, activity, discovery and social development.
The John Laing Charitable Trust - School Grounds Awards are offering over 50 awards, including cash prizes of £5,000, £2,000 and £1,000 to schools across London to improve their outdoor environments.
The awards - managed in partnership with Learning through Landscapes, the national school grounds charity - are open to all LEA maintained nursery, primary, secondary and special schools within the Greater London area.
The awards are designed to support schools in providing opportunities for children to learn and develop in stimulating and innovative school grounds and will fund projects that may be educational, environmental, health-promoting or simply enhance play or social development.
Prizes will include:
· 1 x £5,000 cash award
· 1 x £2,000 cash award
· 1 x £1,000 cash award
· Over 50 x Schoolgrounds - UK or Early Years Outdoors memberships (worth over £3,000 in total)
The awards, now in their fourth year of running, have previously provided thousands of pounds in cash awards to several schools across London enabling school grounds to be vastly improved.
Sherwood Special School in Wallington, Surrey, were last year’s winners and added an environmental sensory garden and vegetable growing area to develop the children’s learning, communication and social interaction.
Deputy Head Teacher of the school, Andrea Ashton explains, “Our environmental garden has enabled our pupils to develop the understanding of growing food, allowing them to follow the process from seed to harvest. This project provided the perfect opportunity for us to improve our community links, whilst allowing us to develop our pupil’s communication, social and motor skills as well as provide good, active fun!"
Chief Executive of Learning through Landscapes, Catherine Andrews added, “Experiencing the world outside should be considered an essential aspect of learning and looked upon as a vital element of personal development and education. It is becoming widely understood that a school grounds can significantly contribute towards a child’s education as well as improve behaviour and develop social interaction.”
Schools and early year settings in London can apply for the John Laing Charitable Trust - London School Grounds Awards now by downloading an application at: www.ltl.org.uk/johnlaingawards.htm
The closing date for applications is Monday 26th October 2009.
For further information please contact Communications Officer, Spencer Butt
email: sbutt@ltl.org.uk
Tel: 01962 845102
For more information on LTL please visit www.ltl.org.uk
About us: Learning through Landscapes (LTL) helps schools and early years settings make the most of their outdoor spaces for play and learning. We believe all children have the right to enjoy and benefit from well designed, managed and used school grounds. We give young people a say in the way their grounds are used and improved, and support school communities throughout the country to make the most of these valuable spaces. We also advise government, other charities and the business sector on how best to help.
School grounds are essential to children’s learning and development, providing opportunities for healthy exercise, creative play, making friends, learning through doing and getting in touch with the natural world. Without LTL, many children could miss out on a chance to be healthy and happy in their formative years and to gather the experiences they need to be healthy and successful adults.
John Laing Charitable Trust:
The John Laing Charitable Trust enables John Laing plc to make charitable donations and provide welfare support for its existing and former employees. John Laing plc is a leading provider of public sector infrastructure through public private partnerships. It invests in, develops and operates over 60 projects spanning schools, colleges, hospitals, roads and railways.