STAFF at Emmaus School in Staverton are putting their fundraising caps on to raise money for a planned extension and disability access.

The school has been working hard to try and reach a £500,000 goal to help pay for the building of a two-storey extension as well as disability access ramps and disabled toilet facilities for pupils. So far the school has already reached the £200,000 mark and with planning permission already being granted, Emmaus is now pushing to hit the final target.

Miriam Wiltshire, head of Emmaus, said: “After we had an extra class built in 2008 it eased the problem but didn’t solve it at all. Since then we have noticed the increase in pupils coming to the school so since 2008 we have started fundraising to help pay for the extension. We also have a pupil who has muscular dystrophy so we really want to build disability access for the whole school.”

Mrs Wiltshire and her team have been coming up with inventive ways of how to raise the extra funds, from donation drives to pupil projects.

“One of our schemes is called 37, this gives people the chance to pay £37 a month, or more or less if they wish. We also did the Smartie Challenge where we gave each pupil a tube of Smarties which they then had to fill with 20p pieces and bring back, from that alone we raised £700,” added Mrs Wiltshire.

The school is still coming up with new and exciting ways to raise the money with hopes that the remaining balance can be collected.

“With the number of pupils in schools growing it is essential that we are able to expand with it so we can comfortably teach all of the pupils we have. We don’t have much extra space at the moment so it would be wonderful to build this much-needed extension,” Mrs Wiltshire said.