School bags £12,000 Tesco grant

St James' CE Primary School, in Coldwaltham, was presented with the money by supermarket giant Tesco as part of its £12.5million Bags of Help funding initiative.

The ongoing scheme invites customers to vote for local outdoor community projects, with the most popular receiving grants of £12,000, £10,000 and £8,000.

The money for the grants comes from the thousands upon thousands of 5p charges customers pay for carrier bags.

Work to bring the outdoor learning area to life for the Early Years children will now be carried out by community charity Groundwork.

St James' headteacher Jon Gilbert said: "On behalf of the staff, governors and children, I would like to thank Tesco and Groundwork for their support with our application and for the opportunity to enhance our Early Years provision by awarding us this grant.

"I would also like to say how grateful we are to the community for supporting our school throughout the voting process in store.

"We now look forward to watching the development and transformation of our outdoor environment and to see the positive impact it brings to our children and to their learning.”

Since launching in 2015, Bags of Help has awarded more than £24million to 2,421 local projects. This year, 1,251 projects in around 400 regions will receive a grant.

Lindsey Crompton, head of community at Tesco, said: “Bags of Help has been a fantastic success.

“We been overwhelmed by the response of our customers and it’s been great to give people a say on how the money will be spent in their community. We can’t wait to see the projects come to life.”

Groundwork’s national chief executive, Graham Duxbury, said: “It’s just the beginning for Bags of Help and we’re really excited about the future.

"The scheme will be permanently open for applications, and as grants can now be used for not just the development of, but also for the use of local outdoor spaces, we expect even more groups will now have the chance to benefit.

“It’s projects like these that really help to capture the public’s imagination by illustrating what can be achieved when communities are given the support and the encouragement they need to create better places where they live.”

To find out more visit www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp.

Make the right choice for you and your child - Visit educationsussex.com for trusted school reviews, videos and so much more.