00:00From musical beats to the splashing of water, pupils are already finding their
00:05rhythm in the new sensory garden at Elmley Dray School in Minster-on-Sea.
00:09So we wanted to create an indoor and an outdoor space for the children who have
00:15varying levels of needs to just sort of get away from the classroom, chill out,
00:21not feel judged and just let off some steam. So many mainstream schools try to
00:26fit a square peg in a round hole so to speak and students like ours need these
00:32spaces to come and just express themselves. Creating spaces like this one
00:38where students can come along and calm down and regulate themselves is an
00:41optimal way to help pupils here. This is one of their basins outside, it's got
00:46jelly in there, there's sea animals, you know what I'm having quite a lot of fun
00:49having a go myself. Despite the school being independent they say their new
00:54sensory garden would not have been possible without charity support.
00:57So the school started a couple of years ago, we didn't have any students at all
01:02and when we opened the school we needed a space for the young people so we needed a
01:07sensory garden, we also needed an extra sensory room and this was just land and
01:13just run-down land really. We didn't have the funds to do that so we applied to
01:18Wooden Spoon and fantastically were successful and they completely
01:22transformed the space. And how much would a space like this have cost if you didn't
01:25have charity funding for it? So we had a variety of quotes ranging from 50,000
01:32pounds to over a hundred thousand pounds and so obviously as a brand new school
01:35just what's not going to happen. So we're really really pleased about today that we
01:39get to say thank you to them and get to celebrate everything that they've done for
01:42us because as I say it just wouldn't have happened without them. The money for the
01:45sensory areas came directly from Wooden Spoon, the children's charity of rugby. The
01:50fundraising efforts were done by Sheppie Rugby Club. Our role in the community is
01:54helping projects like this to help children to thrive, play, be safe and
02:00enjoy life. Why would you not want to support your local children and have
02:04local communities and local families benefit from your hard-earned
02:10fundraising efforts? They do such a great job of raising money. The school hopes the
02:15new spaces will light up school life for pupils here. Chloe Brewster for KMTV in Sheppie.
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