Foreland Fields Charity has received a generous pledge of £45,000 towards the build costs for an inclusive pavilion which will form the centre of their Field of Dreams project.
The pledge has been made by the Bernard Sunley Foundation which supports community and education projects across England and Wales.
Two Foreland Fields Charity representatives, along with five School Council members from Foreland Fields School in Ramsgate, met the director of the Bernard Sunley Foundation at the beginning of November.
A representative of the charity said: “Our young people from the School Council did a fantastic job of welcoming the director and were fantastic ambassadors for our project. They engaged with the director and spoke about school life and how the project will make such a difference to them”
The Bernard Sunley director also spent time being shown around the school and paid a visit to the Field of Dreams site.
The Field of Dreams project will create an accessible sport and leisure hub behind Foreland Fields School, including a football pitch and sport field, inclusive pavilion, horticulture area, forest school, and arts area.
The hub will be used by the children and young people of Foreland Fields SEN School as well as partners from the wider local disability community, including Thanet Galaxy PAN Disability Football, Inclusive Sport, and East Kent Mencap.
The facility will provide a safe environment to develop a wide range of skills through activities such as football, cricket, athletics, cycling, forest school, music, drama and art projects, outdoor education and gardening, and will help create lifelong learning opportunities for children and young people with learning difficulties and disabilities
The total cost of the project amounts to £1.2million. Funds of £755,000 have already been secured to complete phase 1 of the project and the charity is now concentrating its efforts on raising the £450,000 needed to build the pavilion.
Foreland Fields headteacher Adrian Mount said: “I am so grateful to The Bernard Sunley Foundation for this generous donation towards our Field of Dreams project, which will benefit not only the pupils and students of Foreland Fields School but also the local community.
“I am particularly pleased that the Director from the foundation recognised the efforts of our pupils, calling them ‘fantastic ambassadors of the school’. I believe this highlights how strongly our pupils feel about this project.”
Foreland Fields Charity thanked the Bernard Sunley Foundationfors the pledge which will make a real difference to the timely completion of the project.
To find out more about the Field of Dreams project, or offer support,contact Foreland Fields fundraiser Hilary Plowman at [email protected]
A crowdfunding campaign to help raise the costs of the Changing Places Suite within the pavilion, is also live and will run until February 11, 2022.
