Charity Funding For Inspirational Playgrounds

Mon, May 08, 2006

Source: Teaching Times

Schools across London are being challenged to get creative in their school grounds by a national charity that is intending to fund the most inspired projects.

Schools across London are being challenged to get creative in their school grounds by a national charity that is intending to fund the most inspired projects.
 
The Laing Charitable Trust has joined forces with the national school grounds charity, Learning through Landscapes, to offer an award scheme with flexible criteria that encourages innovative development in school grounds.

Awards of up to £3,000 will be made for new projects that demonstrate pupil participation and benefits to the formal and/or informal curriculum.

Peter Carne of Learning through Landscapes, said: “School grounds are really important spaces for London’s children. They are one of the few open spaces left that all London’s children have safe access to on a daily basis and quite frankly far too many are still nothing but dull, grey asphalt.

“We know that a child’s environment profoundly affects their behaviour and attitudes and would therefore encourage all schools to get creative and enter for the awards.”

Due to intensive development, rising crime rates and increasingly heavy traffic,

London’s 1.2 million children and young people are already finding access to quality environments difficult to find.

Against this backdrop LTL recognises the considerable health, social, environmental and outdoor learning opportunities that can be created for London’s children and young people, through the participative, holistic and sustainable development of London's school grounds.

 We know that a child’s environment profoundly affects their behaviour and attitudes 

Michael Hamilton, Director of Community Affairs for John Laing said: “Given this background, it is important that schools make maximum use of all their resources especially their school grounds, where children can learn so much and have such important play opportunities”.

Funded projects for the John Laing School Grounds Awards can be educational, environmental, health promoting or provide for play and social development and the awards available include: 1 first prize of £3,000; 2 second prizes of £2,000; 3 third prizes of £1,000 and 50 runner up prizes of LTL memberships worth £55.

The award scheme opens to all schools in London from May 2006 and the closing date for applications is 30 June 2006. To find out more about the awards, the awards criteria and download an application form visit www.ltl.org.uk/johnlaingawards.

Teaching Times