News - Community Windpower's community benefit fund helping young pupils...
Funding from Community Windpower will soon provide children at Innerwick Primary School with a more stimulating and brighter outdoor space, when pupils return to school. A grant of £1,800, from the owners of Aikengall Community Wind Farms in East Lothian, will ensure the school can purchase new sports equipment, garden plants and updates for the sensory garden. It will all help the school find new ways of encouraging children’s creativity and ensure all pupils and teachers adhere to health and safety guidance related to Covid-19. The money is being provided through BeGreen Dunbar, which manages part of the community benefit funds from Aikengall Community Wind Farms, on behalf of Community Windpower. Innerwick Primary School applied to for the grant as under Scottish Government Covid-19 guidelines, children are encouraged to spend more and more time outside. The funding will allow for the update of playground markings, planting the surrounding areas with plants and flowers and regenerate the current sensory garden area. The school will also use the money to invest in an ecological-friendly washing machine and dryer on site to help quickly clean any clothing or blankets the children use during outdoor play. This currently relies on the generosity of staff undertaking these tasks in their own time and using their own machines at their homes. Having these additional facilities will encourage all children at the school to enjoy outdoor learning without worrying about getting dirty, as the current Covid-19 guidelines in school make for more washing of play equipment blankets and other educational items. Innerwick Primary is also looking at new and inspiring ways of encouraging the children’s creativity and a new initiative of robotics is being introduced in the school. The grant will be used to purchase robots which is a great way of introducing technology to children of all ages and promote an interest in technology and inspire children to work with future technologies. Diane Wood, community benefits director at Community Windpower, which operates the Aikengall Community Wind Farms, said: “We didn’t hesitate when Innerwick Primary School explained what it was planning to do with the funding, as it’s so important we support all members of our communities during this Covid-19 pandemic. “Children need support to focus on something positive, to help with their mental health and encourage stimulating activity, particularly as their school experience is very different at the moment. “Keeping them and the teachers safe, while encouraging new ways of learning and understanding new technologies will help develop new and important skills for the future, when we’ll hopefully be living in a Covid-19 free world.” |
