CHILDREN aged 10 and 11 are to get their own art studio to run themselves at their school in London’s East End. A prefab is going ahead in the gardens at Old Ford Primary after the school learned this week it has scooped a �10,000 windfall from the Big Lottery

By Mike Brooke

CHILDREN aged 10 and 11 are to get their own art studio to run themselves at their school in London’s East End.

A prefab structure is going ahead in the gardens at Old Ford Primary after the school learned this week it has scooped a �10,000 windfall from the Big Lottery.

It will be used by the pupils as well as their mums and dads and people in the Bow and Old Ford neighbourhoods as a community facility.

“The studio will be a new community venue,” explained the Head-teacher’s professional assistant Grant Jenkins. “But it is also a business project for our Year-6 pupils to manage it and organise timetables for using it.

The school hopes to have the structure completed in the next two months, with the kids landscaping around it as the studio is to be in the middle of the school’s garden.

“Kids in our area don’t have facilities like these,” added Mr Jenkins. “This will encourage creativity and be a place for learning outside the classroom.”

The project is one of three in Tower Hamlets and 81 across London sharing nearly �670,000 in the latest round of Lottery arts’ awards.

Also receiving a �10,000 grant is the Bangladeshi Parents and Families Forum to run health workshops to encourage East End kids to do more recreation and to educate them on healthier lifestyles. Tower Hamlets has been plagued with obesity among children, among the worst in the country.

+++

A full list of awards is online at the Awards for All website.