Pupils go wild at school
Pupils are ‘rewilding’ their school grounds with support from the Cumberland’s Charitable Foundation.
The building society made a donation from its Cumberland Branch Community Fund to a scheme called Where the Wildings Are which is helping Lancaster and Morecambe Bay area schools to tackle biodiversity loss and food insecurity and promote outdoor learning.
The Community Fund is administered by The Cumberland’s branch network and is a registered charity which supports community groups and charitable causes in the business’s heartland.
Donations up to £100 are considered and awarded on an individual basis by branch teams, with donations over this amount considered by the fund’s board of trustees.
In the last financial year The Cumberland Branch Community Fund donated almost £25,000 to community groups and charitable causes to support 165 community groups and charitable causes.
At Overton St Helen’s primary school near Heysham a keen group of Year Five and Sixes recently turned part of their school grounds into an allotment to grow tasty veg.
“They loved it,” said Alex Hall, from Where the Wildings Are.
“Children love being outside and working with the soil and learning about the environment. They can talk for hours about what they have learned outside. It lights them up.”
Where the Wildings Are, which depends on donations and grants, was grateful for the donation it recently received from The Cumberland building society.
Alex said: “The funding helped us support Overton St Helen’s school to create a new allotment area. The children weaved willow fencing and planted cabbages and herbs in the raised beds.
“Every time we get a donation, we can make more changes, and it helps so much.”
So far around 20 schools have taken part in Where the Wildings Are.
"The aim is to help schools rewild their grounds, create seed growing spaces and embed outdoor learning in their curriculum," said Alex, who is a former primary, secondary and special needs teacher and former countryside ranger.
“The kids that are harder to engage in the classroom are usually much easier to engage outside,” she said.
“And because it gives kids something they are proud of, you can build their self-confidence.
“Part of the aim is to tackle food poverty and give them the skills to go away and share what they have learned with family and friends.”
Since the programme launched in September 2021 it has helped schools to plant 2,500 trees in the Lancaster district and develop wildflower meadows and non-mowed areas creating a wildlife buffer, she says.
James Cookson, The Cumberland’s manager for Preston and Lancaster, visited Overton St Helen’s primary school to see how the donation was put to good use.
He said: “We’re happy to be able to support Where the Wildings Are though our Community Fund and to help them continue to grow their programme.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to see the work they do firsthand and the smiles and enthusiasm this brings to children and the positive impact this makes to our local communities.”
Other groups which have received funding from the Cumberland Branch Community Fund in the last year include Heartbeat North-West Cardiac Care. The money went towards the cost of cardiac rehabilitation classes for people with heart disease.
Another recipient was Brampton Bus Buddy Scheme, an initiative to support elderly people who would like to get out and about but might be nervous about travelling alone on public transport.
To find out more about The Cumberland Branch Community Fund please click here.