AN OXFORD primary school used its fair at the weekend to boost its chances of winning a grant to improve its facilities.

St Nicholas Primary School in Marston is one of six in Oxfordshire which have been shortlisted for the School Build SOS competition.

The school is collecting tokens in the hope of being able to go ahead with the creation of a sensory garden.

Teacher Johanna McNulty said: “We’re doing as well as we can. At the moment the space is under-used and it would make a fantastic sensory garden.”

The garden will include a route made of different materials, some raised beds and signs in Braille.

On Saturday the school held a fair featuring a bouncy castle and stalls selling copies of the Oxford Mail.

The more tokens the school collects, the better the chance it has of winning the prize.

This is the fourth year running that Abingdon-based construction company Leadbitter has teamed up with the Oxford Mail to run this competition, which offers a £7,500 grant to an Oxfordshire primary school for improvement work to its building.

Ian Batchelor, operations director of Leadbitter, said: “St Nicholas School in Oxford has a wide spectrum of needs for their children.

“Their submission was well put together and was to develop a site in their grounds which at present has minimal facilities.

“This project would benefit the children through stimulating their senses and lay the foundation for the development of the children.

“Having worked many times on such projects, we understand how such facilities can improve learning and quality of life.”

Schools must now collect the tokens which are printed every day in the Oxford Mail until next Monday.

Anyone associated with the school can collect the tokens, whether they are parents, teachers or friends and the tokens will be weighted according to the number of pupils at the school to make sure the competition is fair.

At some point during the campaign a special gold token will be printed, which is worth five normal tokens.

Readers should send their tokens to their chosen school. Photocopies will not be accepted.

The school with the most tokens will win the grant. The work will be carried out over the summer holidays.

  • In tomorrow’s Oxford Mail we will look at West Kidlington Primary School’s contest entry.