SOME clever financial wizardry and great imagination has led to a primary school’s dream of having a small outdoor classroom for early years turn into the reality of a large multi-use facility.
Butterknowle Primary School not only has a new fence around the early years playground and a new outdoor classroom, but also wooden benches to match, thanks to a £7,000 grant from county councillor Heather Smith and former county councillor Andy Turner.
Headteacher Tessa Fenoughty said the original idea was to fence off the play area and put in a small classroom.
She added: “We used our money wisely and we got one that was bigger than expected.”
The new building was relocated to the main playground and has now become home to a year two “wild writing” club who are so inspired that they “don’t want to stop writing” .
It has the added benefit of offering sanctuary to children who struggle outdoors, such as one pupil who suffers badly from a pollen allergy, Mrs Fenoughty said.
The pupils can now enjoy play time with the other children without suffering from hay-fever.
The facility was turned into a dentist’s check-up room during the school’s recent sports day.
It was so popular with parents that the school plans another session in the near future.
Cllr Smith said: “It’s brilliant. It is a health space as well as an education space. I am so impressed. It is terrific.”
Children involved in the writing club gave a demonstration of their work to Cllr Smith when she visited the school on Thursday, July 5, to see the new facility.
![A COUNTY councillor is backing a campaign to get a pedestrian crossing in Staindrop. Frustrated parish councillors in the village summoned their county council representative Cllr George Richardson to their latest meeting to discuss several issues, including the call for a safe way to cross the A688. Earlier this year their request for a crossing was turned down by the county council’s highways officers. Parish council chairman Jonothan Raper described the reasons for the refusal as “spurious” and called on Cllr Richardson to support their campaign. He added: “One of the arguments they made was there is no clear line of desire when they studied the village – well this isn’t a clear line of desire because there isn’t a crossing, people cross whenever they can. “When the lollipop person was there, one of the things I noticed was people would walk all the way down to the lollipop person to cross the road to go to the shop or to go to the school.” He added a problem of parking at the primary school is exacerbated because people are too afraid to walk their children across the road. Cllr Richardson said he had supported previous attempts for a crossing point with the first being made about 15 years ago. He added: “We went fairly well down the road with that and they looked into it. The only recommended place was where the bus stop is and to get the visibility splays, people on the other side of the road would lose their parking. “That didn’t go down well so it just died a death.” Cllr Raper said he suspected the real reason for the officers’ refusal was the cost of installing a crossing. He added that much of the cost could be recovered from savings made on not having to employ a lollipop patrol. Cllr Raper said: “A lollipop person only provides a benefit of crossing for three hours of the day. You are getting 21 extra hours of crossing time [with a pedestrian crossing].” Cllr Richardson said he would raise the issue with the county council’s cabinet member for highways, Cllr John Shuttleworth.](https://teesdalemercury.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/georgeR-120x86.jpg)
