Reading school raises over £135k to build eco-friendly therapy classroom inspired by Iron Age huts

A school in Reading has managed to raise over £130,000 to build a new eco-friendly outdoor classroom. Recently, the Local Planning Authority approved plans to build the classroom which will have an Iron Age-inspired design.

The Wren school on Bath Road in Reading hopes to provide students with an 'alternative outdoor space' for learning. The new classroom will be flanked by trees and nature and will be used as a sanctuary suitable for counselling and therapy sessions.

With a circular design in mind, the look of the building will take inspiration from the Iron Age. So far the school has raised a massive £135,424 through grants and donations to a fundraising page. To complete the project they need to raise £159,409.

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In 2021, the school set up a fundraising effort on the Good Exchange, and the description details how the school would like to "return to the wise ways of our ancestors, building in a circular form, in accordance with nature." The classroom will also honour nature by way of sustainability.

The building "saves and reuses energy and material wherever possible". There will also be insect and hedgehog habitat boxes and planters to help boost local biodiversity.

Full permission has now been granted by the council to build this classroom. A prior report detailed concerns around the location of the classroom due to its location near various trees which need to be protected.

This has now been addressed and the site of the classroom has changed. The planning permission document also notes that there will be no change to the existing number of pupils as a result of the classroom and therefore no "significant hindrance" to the existing functions of the school and its facilities.

The Wren school was formed in 2015 by a group of local parents to address issues in the local area regarding the lack of Secondary school places. The new eco-classroom is set to advantage the current cohort of 909 students and 100 staff members.

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