A SENSORY garden has been created at a Worcester special school.

Children at the Fort Royal Community Primary School in Wyld’s Lane now have access to a sensory garden thanks to a grant from the Prime Foundation, a charitable trust that provides funding for local community projects.

Worcestershire Wildlife Consultancy was commissioned to design and implement the garden, which will particularly benefit those pupils with profound physical and learning disabilities.

Emma Sargent, fund manager for the Prime Foundation, said: “The Prime Foundation Charity was set up by Prime Plc to help communities where we build our primary care premises.

“With our headquarters in Worcester we were keen to launch the foundation with a locally-based project and when staff at the school approached us for a grant we jumped at the opportunity to help.

“The school really needed a usable outdoor classroom for all its pupils, particularly those that require wheelchairs.

We wanted to provide them with an area that gave ready access to nature in a safe environment.”

Edward Leszczynski and Helen Fletcher, of Worcestershire Wildlife Consultancy, advised on the kind of plants needed in the garden, focusing on native species that would attract wildlife while stimulating the senses.

Ms Fletcher said: “This was a really exciting project to work on as the teachers and children were so enthusiastic and keen to develop this area.

“We visited the school on several occasions to get input from the children and teachers.

“It was really important that their ideas were incorporated into the final design so they felt ownership over the garden.”

The garden has been designed as an informal sensory garden with the aim of meeting the children’s physical, emotional and educational needs.

There are hard paths throughout the area to ensure maximum accessibility.

Sue Molloy from the school said: “This project has been fantastic. Fort Royal is a new school and there were several areas of our site that weren’t accessible to some of our pupils.

This project has really focused everybody’s attention and pulled the whole school together.

“It’s great that our little ‘conker wood’ is now a sensory garden for all our pupils to enjoy.

“We’re really looking forward to maintaining it and watching it grow and mature over the next few years.”

For more information about the Prime Foundation visit primeplc.com

For more information about Worcestershire Wildlife Consultancy and the work it undertakes visit worcestershirewildlifeconsultancy.org

For more information about Fort Royal School visit fortroyal.worcs.sch.uk

PICTURE CAPTION: GREAT GARDEN: Fort Royal Community Primary School head teacher Jane Long with pupil Bethany, aged 10, with other parents, teachers, governors and pupils in the new sensory garden. Picture by Nick Toogood. BUY THIS PHOTO: worcesternews.co.uk/pictures/sales. 46357101