School's pond area improved

Children and parents worked together to transform a neglected school pond.

Volunteers at Mount Church of England Primary School, Newark, cleared the overgrown pond as part of a family learning project, organised by Positive Change Works.

The aim is to encourage children and their families to work together.

Head Mrs Claire Kent said: “A lot of parents helped to reclaim our pond area, which was a little bit overgrown and in need of some tender loving care.

“They cleared space ready for planting and we are going to put some raised beds in that area.

“We will level off some of the ground so the children can do pond-dipping and outdoor learning.”

Mrs Kent said the project was a great way to bring different pupils and families together.

She said: “We had lots of children who perhaps wouldn’t normally work together, and parents from different cultures and backgrounds working together.”

Staff from Severn Trent Water and BNM, who are working in the school grounds as part of a £60m project to update Newark’s sewers, donated and installed a sandpit at the school on Friday. The sandpit will be used by foundation pupils aged three to five.