OUTDOOR learning has been given a boost at a Worcester primary school, thanks to the kindness of a local charitable trust.

The trustees of Harrison Clark Rickerbys' Charitable Trust have donated £510 towards the purchase of outdoor play tables at Fort Royal Community Primary School.

Fort Royal is a school of 170 children aged between 3-11 years old, with special educational needs. The school's outdoor spaces are seen as being vital to the wellbeing of its students.

Margaret Jones, Grants Administrator at Fort Royal Community School, said; "We recently embarked on a programme of fundraising to transform our outdoor learning spaces into more friendly, accessible ones for all of our students. We are keen for them to experience planting, growing, picking and eating their own produce, and to experiment and learn within a safe environment. Our staff identified these as activities that would help our students' learning and complement their national curriculum key stages."

She added: "We created raise beds so that our wheelchair bound children could access them along with their classmates, and, thanks to the kind donation from Harrison Clark Rickerbys' Charitable Trust, purchased a height appropriate table, which provides seating on one side and space for wheelchair users on the other. This has enabled our students to work together and has made an incredible difference to each class. We really are very grateful to the Trustees for enabling our teaching to be as inclusive as possible."

Jonathan Brew, Trustee of the Harrison Clark Rickerbys Charitable Trust, added: "We are very pleased to support a local school and to observe the positive impact that our donation has had on Fort Royal and its students. The new outdoor area provides children with a safe environment in which they can enjoy participating in practical tasks outside of the classroom and it is nice to hear that it is well used.

"With our head offices based in Worcester, we are delighted to support worthy causes such as this in the local area."

Harrison Clark Rickerbys' Charitable Trust has raised over £160,000 since its inception in 2007 and aims to give back to the communities within which the law firm operates.