School’s play area

School bags cash

A West Lothian primary school has bagged £5000 to transform their playground into an “exciting outdoor space”.

Carmondean Primary School was awarded the money from Tesco’s Bags of Help scheme via a public vote.

The money will go towards the Livingston school’s Building a Perfect Playground project which they have been working on for the last year.

Avril Tully, principal teacher at Carmondean Primary School, said: “We have already introduced a few fantastic new play opportunities into our playground and are so excited that we will now be able to use our £ 5000 to implement some of the other ideas on our Perfect Playground wishlist. With the money we plan to complete our outdoor amphitheatre, look into the possibility of having adventure platforms built and begin to resource our den building areas - pending approval from West Lothian Council.

“Bags of Help has been a fantastic success for Carmondean.” Children, staff and parents will now begin work to bring the project to life with the help of Greenspace Scotland and Groundwork who are working with Tesco on their Bags of Help scheme. The scheme sees grants of up to £5000, £2000 and £1000 – all raised from the 5p bag levy – being awarded to local community projects for work on outdoor areas.

Tony McElroy, Tesco’s head of communications in Scotland, said: “The great thing about Bags of Help is that local people are invited to decide how the money will be spent in their community. We can’t wait to see the projects come to life.”

Carmondean Primary School won the popular vote as Tesco shoppers chose their project to give the largest amount of funding too by voting for it in stores throughout January.

Emma Halliday, community enabler coordinator at Greenspace Scotland, said: “The scale and variety of activities supported by Bags of Helps shows what can be achieved when communities are given the support and the encouragement they need to make change happen in their local area.”