YOUNGSTERS at a Devizes primary school will be able to get fit and enjoy learning outdoors thanks to a £10,000 lottery grant.

Wansdyke has been given the cash to help put up an outdoor gym and kickstart its Forest School project that will allow youngsters to have lessons outside and learn from their environment.

Teacher Hannah Knight, who led the bid to get Big Lottery funding was delighted with the award. She said: "It is very exciting. We hope that everything will be up and running within a calendar year but it would be ideal if it was finished ready for September,"

She said that both the new gym equipment and the outdoor classroom would benefit all children at the school including those in its unit which helps children with special needs.

Ms Knight, who is the school's special educational and complex needs manager, said: "The outdoor gym equipment will be designed so that all children can use it. It will be suitable for all the different age groups and those with different needs.

"We are also excited about becoming a Forest School and we are working with Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. We heard we had got the money a few weeks ago and we are all very excited.

"Our PE staff have been involved to make sure the gym equipment is what we need. It will allow the children to be more active which is a good thing."

A spokesman for the Big Lottery, which has just announced grants totalling £1,702,662 to 62 projects across the south west, said: "This project with enable children, including those with special needs to access activities which benefit their development and wellbeing."

A grant of £10,000 has also gone to Devizes based Community First for a project called Community Connect which will allow digital support to be given to rural communities.

A Big Lottery spokesman said: "This project will create new platforms for digital support for rurally located village halls and community buildings in the region.

"This will create new ways of supporting community organisations and help them plan for sustainability."