Bus Project for New Learning Zone
We are now working on a project to create a new learning zone at the school. As our school is a Victorian building, we lack additional areas where small groups of children can go for interventions or as break out areas for learning. This will be a long-term project, but we have been successful in acquiring a double-decker bus which we will turn into a learning zone for small group work, sensory area and space for our learning mentor to use with children. Both the downstairs and upstairs will be developed into valuable space that small groups of children can use. The bus will be situated on the school field.
The project will be in phases and may take a couple of years to complete, but we hope to have something like this.
The first phase was getting a bus, and I am delighted to say that Mrs Collins has been successful in this after over 12 months of tireless work.
We have received legal permission to have the bus on the school site and have had a base built. On 19 September 2023, the bus was transported to us.
We are now starting the next phase, ensuring it is watertight and has lighting and heat. We will look into eco-friendly ways of providing this as well as the most cost-effective.
Then the exciting bit comes when we transform it into a learning space using the children's ideas. The upstairs could have an area similar to this for the children to sit and talk, along with a sensory area. The downstairs will be a group work space.
There will inevitably be costs for the different phases, and we have started fundraising for these. You can see our progress below.
Please do contact us via the school office and let us know if you think you can help in any way. More details of what is required can be found below.
Progress
We are pleased to report that work has now started on our bus project. Over the summer break, we had a concrete base installed by DYL Landscape and are now awaiting the delivery of our bus.
On 19 September 2023, we took delivery of the bus from the Metropolitan Police who had donated this. Boleyn National Recovery delivered this to us free of charge. We would like to thank both companies for their generosity and helping us to achieve such an exciting project.
Work has started to transform this into a learning zone that will benefit all our children.
We were successful with our submitted application to a community project run by Rainbow Services as part of their planned season of community projects for the September cohorts of their workshop Youthbuild project. They used their woodwork skills to provide us with desktops and storage areas for our working zone. They attended the school to share their ideas and measured up for the project and installed these. We have enjoyed working with them.
HTS Group has also been involved co-ordinating with various companies to install new lighting, heating and smoke detectors on the bus.
Grand Opening of Downstairs Area
We have now completed the works on the downstairs of the bus and held a grand opening event on Friday 7 June 2024 with all those who have helped us achieve this present. We are truly thankful for everyone's support.
Upper Deck
We have now transformed the upper deck into a sensory / wellbeing area through funding received from ECC Inclusion Framework.
We have installed soft matting flooring and now have sensory equipment ready to use.
We are now looking forward to using this extra resource and enhancing our children's learning.
We have a “Thank You” board displayed on the bus naming all those who have helped us make this project possible.
Companies Involved With Our Project Were:
- Metropolitan Police
- DYL Landscape
- Boleyn National Recovery
- PSV Glass & Glazing
- The Marquis of Granby
- Rainbow Services (Youthbuild)
- HTS Group - Funding and Coordinating with other companies including:
- Jewson - funding
- Positive Connection - electrical work
- RB Whitbread - groundwork
- Aico - Smoke detectors
- Taylor & Cook Ltd
We are very appreciative of everyone's help in transforming our project and making it all possible.
Fundraising
Below has been our journey of fundraising for this project, which started in January 2023. We would like to thank everyone who has been involved in making this a community achievement - without you, it would not have been possible.
| Fundraising Received | Amount (£) | Total so far (£) |
| Held a PJ Day | 177 | 177 |
| PTA arranged a pizza night | 400 | 577 |
| Child running a marathon and successful in gaining a grant towards our project | 1,000 | 1,577 |
| Parents, staff and children took part in a marathon event on 19 March 2023 | 3,010 | 4,587 |
| Children took part in half-term “Bob a Job” activities | 825.05 | 5,412.05 |
| Received a grant from Love Essex | 500.00 | 5,914.05 |
| Received a grant from Tesco Stronger Starts | 1,500.00 | 7,414.05 |
| Held a quiz night, including a raffle and auction | 2,050.00 | 9,464.05 |
| Parent donation | 500.00 | 9,964.05 |
| EEC Inclusion Framework funding | 8,594.00 | 18,558.05 |
| Dot Day gallery sale | 321.00 | 18,879.05 |
