FRIENDS OF MEERSBROOK BANK SCHOOL

We are Friends of Meersbrook Bank Primary School (FMBS), based in Sheffield. We raise funds to support the school with anything that their very overstretched budget can't cover, such as subsidising trips, buying school supplies, supporting the library and small bits of equipment.

Despite its slightly gloomy, Dickensian shell, our school is warm place filled with fantastic teachers and staff; and bright, kind and inquisitive children. We all work together to raise funds for the school, with children setting up bake sales, teachers running the Sheffield 10k and FMBS holding various fundraising events throughout the school year. 

We need your help!

This school year we've set ourselves an ambitious challenge - to raise funds to overhaul the school's very tired playground! However, as hard as we're all trying and as many raffle tickets and rice crispy cakes we sell, our efforts are barely scratching the surface at the amount of money we need to raise to make this a reality.

The playground is currently very bare, almost entirely tarmac and a big chunk of it is on a fairly steep hill, which limits its use as a play area (and makes ball games a little one-sided!). 

The top yard, which is used for the nursery and reception children is extremely slippy and the cause of frequent accidents.  When it rains heavily (a not unheard of occurrence in Sheffield) the water runs down the hill and floods the bottom yard, making it unsafe to play in. To get to this point the water also runs past the school building, overwhelming the Victorian sewage system and causing groundwater to seep into the stairwell inside the school. 

Even in dry weather, the playground is uninspiring and lacking in natural areas. We get the occasional curious pigeon visitor but it's definitely not the haven for wildlife that the children would love to see. 

As well as making the space more green and environmentally friendly, we would love to install a range of play equipment to make breaks more fun for the children and to set up sensory areas for those that need a quieter space.

Through landscaping and implementing more sustainable drainage solutions in the playground, we can make it more safe and pleasant for the children, as well as supporting local wildlife by introducing eco-areas that help to collect the groundwater and bring some nature into a previously concrete space.

Our playground to do list:

• We want to buy a range of fun play equipment for the playground to encourage the children to enjoy time outdoors and give them a proper break from their school work. 
• The school's eco council (made up of children from the school) have started work on an outdoor classroom / eco-garden and they need funds to make this a green and inviting space where children can learn about nature and help it to grow. 
• We want to create different spaces in the playground so that every child feels that they have a space to enjoy themselves, whether that is running around after a football or sitting in a quiet corner planting seeds.
• But before we can even start to look at play equipment, we need to resurface the playground and reduce flooding in wet weather.

It will be a lot of work to turn it into the fun, inspiring and more wildlife-friendly space that we'd like to see for the children. To make it happen we need to raise a fairly daunting amount of money, which almost feels impossible for a small school like ours.

We can't do this alone and we're asking for your help. Please consider donating to Friends of Meersbrook Bank School to create the more natural, fun and safe playground that the children need and deserve. 

Thank you for your support.