Providing the wheels to Weston Park
Weston Park, the stately home on the Shropshire \ Staffordshire border has received two very generous gifts from the Wynn Foundation and The Arts Society Wrekin to support the educational experience they offer to local schools.
Weston Park, an educational charity, gives children access to a unique learning experience through their partnership with Educating Kids Outdoors (EKO) which includes a Forest School.
With the price of fuel increasing schools from Telford & Wrekin were starting to feel the pinch in affording coach travel for school visits.
The Arts Society Wrekin offered support for ‘Creative Arts’ sessions totalling £2,000 to a number of schools which they identified through their Young Arts programme and the Wynn Foundation gave £3,000 for travel support. This meant that EKO could approach schools to offer help with coach costs with local company Elcocks offering a highly competitive rate to bring the opportunity of a visit to Weston within reach of even more schools.
Natasha Branston, the founder of EKO said: “Weston is an exceptional place offering masses of educational opportunities for children to enjoy and we are delighted by the generosity of the The Arts Society Wrekin and the Wynn Foundation.”
Gareth Williams, Curator & Head of Learning to the Weston Park Foundation said: “With EKO we have created a relevant, curricular based offer for children to get the most of being outside the classroom including Forest School. We are enormously grateful to both The Arts Society Wrekin and the Wynn Foundation for this vital support for schools.”
The funds have enabled over 300 local children so far to visit the estate as part of curricular based learning.
For further information on school visits to Weston Park please visit ekolearning.org.uk
Pictured (L-R) Gareth Williams, Nicky Lipscome (Arts Society Wrekin), Natasha Branston and Luke Feehan from the Wynn Foundation
Further information
Andrea Webster
Weston Park
01922 852168
andrea@weston-park.com
Notes to Editors
Weston Park offers high-quality out of classroom educational visits for learners of all ages and welcomes 7,000 children every year to the estate. School visits are delivered in partnership with Educating Kids Outdoors (EKO) which includes using the historic Capability Brown Walled Garden for teaching about nutrition and healthy eating – an initiative founded by EKO with Holiday Activity with Food Days (HAF) for Shropshire Council and Staffordshire County Council for children in receipt of free school meals.
The Arts Society Wrekin
The Arts Society Wrekin (formerly known as NADFAS) is a leading arts education charity with a global network of local societies which bring people together through a shared curiosity for the arts. The Wrekin branch was established in 1974 and its first president was Mary, Countess of Bradford, whose home then was Weston Park. The Society has an active membership with a busy programme of lectures, study days and volunteer visits each year. It supports local schools through its Young Arts programme and was delighted to be associated with this collaborative project to offer outdoor creative arts opportunities for Telford schoolchildren.
The Wynn Foundation
The Wynn Foundation was established by Graham and Jenny Wynn and it operates across Shropshire supporting initiatives that better improve the local community through equal opportunities with funding given for a wide variety of projects.