COLLINGBOURNE Primary welcomed Wiltshire MP Claire Perry to announce the opening of the school’s new sensory garden.

Miss Perry was joined by members of staff and pupils of the school in Collingbourne Ducis to unveil the revamped garden in the school grounds. Works began after the project received grants and support from the local parish council as well as a successful application to the Area Board.

Jeff Mason, head teacher of the school, said: “I was speaking to the Year 5s, who are now our Year 6s, and they said it was a shame the garden was out of use. I mentioned this to the parents and Vicky May jumped straight on it. Since then we have done fundraising, including receiving a grant from the Collingbourne Ducis and Collingbourne Kingston parish councils as well as the Tidworth Area Board which matched the funds we had raised.

“One of the parents did the excavating and infrastructure, the farmer who owns the land next to the schools, Chris Gordon, was kind and let us drive the digger across his land to access the site. Local businesses also supported us, Marlborough MRH, Marlborough Building Supplies and even Homebase have all contributed to this.”

The garden, which now provides an open and interactive space for the children to enjoy, now boasts a pond with an underwater camera, so the pupils can observe the wildlife living in it, a remembrance area and a xylophone.

Mr Mason added: “There are plans to add more to the garden, we want to have a bee installation with cameras to the pupils can observe how bees work and their habitat.”

Vicky May, who's daughter Jessica is a Year 1 pupil of the school, has praised the hard work from everyone who was involved in the project, happy to see a year's worth of planning pay off.

Mrs May, from Collingbourne Kingston, said: "We are delighted to finally see that all our hard work and determination has paid off, it has been a year since we first got together as the Parents Focus Group and discussed the issue of the disused garden area in the school grounds.

"Since then we have attended meetings to secure funding, appealed to local businesses for help, drawn up plans, received advice, obtained quotes, sourced materials and spent many days during the summer getting stuck in until the garden was complete. Being at the official opening last week and watching the pupils enjoying the garden makes it all worth while."