Close this window

£21,109 boost for local children through Malden Manor School

26 June, 2001 

Malden Manor Primary school has received a £21,109 lottery grant through the New Opportunities Fund to create 25 after school and 25 before school places for children between the ages of 3 and 11.

The funding will allow a school breakfast club and after school club for children in the locality and will be a crucial community resource for the many parents who have to work and have difficulty in finding child minders before and after school.

Head teacher Mrs Margaret Matthews, speaking to Malden and Coombe Community Pages (M&CCP) said, "I am clearly delighted by the news.  This will be a tremendous benefit to the local community and is to the credit of our parent governor Kay Wingate, who has worked tirelessly on this very successful bid".

Mrs Wingate in her comments was very quick to recognise the support that she had received from Kingston Early Years partnership and was looking to a year of hard work to bring the the project to life.  Commenting to M&CCP, Mrs Wingate 

said "There is a lot of hard work ahead.  We have a number of mums and dads ready to put in the effort, who for some time have been on a standby footing.  I am just so pleased by the grant - in a batch that constitutes the largest pool of donations so far awarded by the the New Opportunities Fund".

Local Councillor Ian McDonald, whose area will include Malden Manor School in 2002, said, "The area around the school is absolutely desperate for further investment.  I am very proud of the work that Kay and her team have put in".

Malden Manor School has a history of supporting the local community and also hosts the successful parent and toddler group, Sparrows, which provides a place for the very young to play safely on a Friday morning, while parents and carers can meet and talk at the same time.

Through the breakfast and after school club the school are looking to provide organised games, a quiet homework area, computer facilities (some of which has been provided by M&CCP) and allowing children to use the playground and field as well as the school hall.