Telford school's eco-tunnel regenerated thanks to pupils' hard work
Future generations at a Telford school are set to benefit from the regeneration of their eco-tunnel thanks to the hard work of pupils, staff and a company from Birmingham.
When it was decided to do something about the rather tired looking tunnel - an eco-friendly greenhouse - at Ercall Wood Academy, the whole school got involved to restore it to its former glory.
And they were helped in no small way by global property and construction company WT Partnership, who have a Birmingham office and run a charity arm to support organisations in the region.
They not only provided finance for the project, which saw the tunnel restored, cleaned and completely revamped, but also provided labour, gardening tools and equipment to help plant new vegetables and seeds.
The plan for the project is for aspire mentor Tracy Jones, who works with some of the more vulnerable pupils at the school, to hold sessions with SEN students and supervise them in planting projects and maintaining the tunnel.
Food grown there will be used in the school kitchen as well as distributed to food banks in the area.
Assistant principal Anya Brodie said it was a project the whole school could get involved in, but the SEN pupils were finding it particularly worthwhile.
She said: "Tracy does a lot of work with the SEN pupils as a mentor and finds they enjoy being outdoors and working in the eco tunnel. The things we grow there will not only go out to the community but will provide fresh produce for the school canteen.
"It did need quite a bit of work doing on it to maintain it, both the tunnel itself and the planting programme and we are immensely grateful to WT Partnership who gave us resources, money and equipment as well as sending a team of volunteers."
