MORE than £4,000 has been raised for a sensory garden to be installed at a town-centre primary school in a bid to add some beneficial outdoor space.

'The Redlands Rockets' will be running the Reading Half Marathon in order to raise money for Redlands Primary School, Lydford Road.

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The group is formed of parents, carers and friends of the school, who have decided to take action to help the local community.

The money will be used to transform the school's playground into a green space to bring more wildlife and nature into the community, as well as improve mental health and wellbeing.

A Go Fund Me page has been set up by the team, highlighting the needs for an outdoor area for children, including the mental health of children and the wider community amid the third lockdown; to help children connect with nature' to teach children about climate change; to build outdoor learning into the school curriculum, to help the community and to increase oxygen levels in the ecosystem.

The page reads: "We need to keep the footprint of the running space for the children (they have such little space to play and learn), but we can get creative with the space and create an oasis in the middle of an urban landscape for local children in need.

"We will create a wildlife and sensory garden which will increase biodiversity in an urban space and give scope to teach children about the fight against climate change, and crucially, will help improve mental health of our children, and the wider community, through a deeper connection with the natural world.

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"We will build small vegetable beds so we can give the children a place to engage in outdoor learning, and link it to the curriculum; not everyone learns in the same way."

The team have set a target of £15,000, of which £4,385 has currently been raised.

To view and donate to the fundraiser, click here.