Running the Duke of Edinburgh Award gives us the opportunity to inspire and encourage young people to volunteer their time to helping others, learn the skills to prepare them for life after school and develop team building skills. Unfortunately we are restricted with space and don't have a permanent home to teach our students. We are raising money to hopefully build an eco-pod classroom which will serve as both an outdoor classroom and storage unit for our DofE equipment. Ensuring it is looked after for years to come. We have been so overwhelmed with donations from the general public over the last few months and have now got some fantastic equipment. Our fear is that without a proper place to store it, it will be lost and damaged.

We would love to offer our amazing students a save haven to come and do their DofE studies. To have a space where they can plan their expeditions. Currently we have no home, and trying to run the DofE award is difficult. We want to reward the students with an eco pod.

Another reason for wanting the eco pod is to teach students about eco-friendly design. The pods are sustainable and run from solar power. In the future we have a vision to be able to offer students more experiences in DofE. A lot of our students struggle to find volunteering opportunities in our town and so we would love to create an allotment in which they can grow their own vegetables alongside our pod.

In a world that has become too much about results and statistics in education we are trying to retain some passion for the outdoors and this eco-pod will allow us the space to really teach our students a wide variety of skills. It will also help them to see what can be achieved when they work together.

Please help us to help our students so that we can inspire them. Ultimately creating some wonderful young people for the future and an amazing facility that will last for years to come.