25
March,
2024
Talbot Village Trust has provided crucial support for Life Education Wessex to enhance its schools’ education programme in Dorset.
Life Education Wessex, a charity that provides education sessions in health, wellbeing, drugs, and alcohol awareness for school children across Dorset, has thanked grant-giving charity Talbot Village Trust for a substantial donation to fund their portable new LifeSpace classrooms.
The charity visits schools across the region to educate students with healthy lifestyle messages, developing skills and knowledge that promotes positive health and wellbeing.
Through funding from Talbot Village Trust, Life Education Wessex has been able to design and develop bespoke new LifeSpace classrooms. The inflatables can be brought into schools to provide a specialist facility and unique learning environment for school children aged 4 to 11 years.
Lorraine Hewitt, Fundraising Manager at Life Education Wessex, said: “We’re so grateful to have support from Talbot Village Trust, who’ve supported us for many years, especially for funding vital equipment, like our new LifeSpace classrooms.
“We find that children absolutely love these environments, which create safe and fun spaces for young people to learn in – it’s a powerful educational experience that’s made even more memorable with help from Harold the Giraffe, who’s a very well-known character across Dorset!”
She added: “Our previous LifeBus classrooms were based on prefabricated trailers that required specialist towing and were costly to run. Our new and modern inflatable versions save travel costs, are easier to maintain and lessen our environmental impact.
“The new equipment travels with our educators themselves and can now stay on site for up to a week, seeing around 100 pupils a day.”
The inflatable classrooms come complete with a raft of educational tools, including ‘show-me, tell me’ body tunics, which help children to explore and understand bodies, and built in lights and sensory devices, which create an immersive experience.
The charity uses the SCARF curriculum framework, a whole-school approach that improves children’s wellbeing and progresses through values of Safety, Care, Achievement, Resilience and Friendship.
Children can join the charity’s additional session in Relationship Education with parents being invited to attend an informative pre-session about the topics and themes covered.
Nick Ashley Cooper, Chairman of Talbot Village Trust, said: “Reaching around 20,000 young schoolchildren across Dorset every year, it’s clear that Life Education Wessex’s workshops are an absolutely vital resource for schools.
“We’ve been so pleased to offer our support to enhance and upgrade the charity’s travelling classroom capability, which is much more portable and immersive, and can reach even more children with their message of healthy living.”
He added: “It’s incredibly important that teaching around health, wellbeing, and relationships reflects the challenges we see in society, using educational resources that are innovative and creative to engage young people at such a crucial time in their lives.”
To read more about Life Education Wessex or enquire about how your school can get involved, visit: www.lifeeducationwessex.org.uk.
