A NEW wooden roundhouse to support outdoor learning and the mental health of pupils at a school in Barnard Castle has been given the thumbs up by staff and children.
The building, adjacent to Montalbo School’s recently created heritage garden, has a grass and sedum roof and four sliding doors, which will mean the space can be used for outdoor lessons in summer and winter.
Until medieval times roundhouses were used by settlers in rural parts of Teesdale. The remains of large timber roundhouses, dating to the Bronze Age, have been uncovered at various sites including Bracken Rigg.
The project received £7,000 from the neighbourhood funds of Cllr Richard Bell, Cllr Ted Henderson, Cllr James Rowlandson and Cllr George Richardson. The Banks Community Fund provided £5,000 with the Co-Op Community Fund also contributing. The Friends of Montalbo School, which organises fundraising activities throughout the year for the school, also provided £8,000.
Chris Minikin, headteacher, said: “We are so pleased with the roundhouse. It opens up so many opportunities for teaching and learning and complements the work we do in the Railway Heritage Garden and the copse.
“This space will support the wider curriculum.”
“We are grateful to all the funders and to Julia Steele and Joanna Buchanan, from the Friends of Montalbo School, who have helped so much with fundraising initiatives.
“We wanted the space to be naturalistic and roundhouses have a different feel to them.”
Cllr Henderson said: “It is encouraging to see that there are schools out there getting the help to make improvements. It is money well spent.”
