Currently the outside resources at St Mary’s are dilapidated and have been deemed inadequate by OFSTED who noted that "Children in the early years do not have a wide enough range of opportunities to reinforce their learning when they learn outdoors". There are underlying issues with the surfacing and drainage which need to be resolved before any of the exciting equipment can be installed and this has meant that the project’s costs are far higher than was initially expected. We have spent the last 12 months fundraising towards this project and have raised over £20,000 through various events, our usual annual turnover is around £3,500 so this has required a huge effort from families within the school and also people and businesses in the wider community. But even when adding this to the government funding that has been secured by the school, we are still well short of the necessary £90,000 to be able to start building works and £120,000 to complete works. Without significant extra donations the start of this project will have to be delayed.We hope that by creating an adventurous, stimulating, varied and well planned environment for these young children to learn in we can foster a desire to learn and explore, provide calm areas for contemplation and give them the very best start to their educational journey so that every child who comes to the school can fulfil their potential, both throughout their school life and also once they head in to employment. Our plans include a pond which will encourage scientific skills, a trim trail to develop physical skills as well as problem solving, living walls that will require nurturing and will inspire respect for nature and a stage area to build confidence and spur on budding young performers.