New pergola for St Thomas Wharton Academy in Edlington

It is all thanks to a volunteer programme between home improvement retailer, Wickes, and social enterprise, Volunteer It Yourself.

15 students spent three days working with VIY mentors to create the new pergola, which has been placed in the school grounds. In a bid to break up the routine academic lessons, the project, tailored for students who are more practically minded, allowed those involved to develop a range of manual and teamworking skills.

All students are now able to use the pergola for outdoor art projects, small group lessons and as a leisure space during break times. Through this programme the students were taught carpentry skills, which they will continue to use in their education.

The project was supported by the local Wickes store in Doncaster, which donated all the tools and materials required, together with covering the cost of professional tradespeople to act as mentors on the ground.

Store manager of Wickes Doncaster, Jaymes Morland, said: “The end result looks amazing and it's clear the students got a lot out of it, gaining invaluable skills which will help them in the future. It's great for us at Wickes to see how we're making a difference and we hope to support more VIY projects again soon.”

Teacher at Sir Thomas Wharton Academy, Liam Smith, said: “We’d like to thank VIY and Wickes for the work they’ve done here. It gave 15 of our students a completely different learning experience and everything from the materials to the work undertaken by the volunteers has been fantastic. It would be great to work with them again in the future.”