WITH funding becoming increasingly tight for state schools across the area, Friends of Sherston School are taking matters into their own hands.

The group have spent the year fundraising to make the dream of a full fitness trail for students at the school a reality.

They have raised £4,000 towards the £10,000 target for improving the current trail which would include additional pieces of equipment on which children could exercise during break and lunch times.

Fi Picton, chair of Friends of Sherston School, said: “We want to keep the children fit and active at lunch time,” she said.

“Fundraising started in September and we’re hoping to have reached our target by the end o the year.

“We ran an Olympic day last month which raised over £900 for the fitness trial.

“We had 40 volunteers helping with the day, including 30 dads running the sports events; they got really into it.”

The school has increased in size from 80 to 190 pupils in the past ten years and as funds are stretched further, money for things such as fitness equipment is harder to come by.

“The kind of money needed to build the fitness trail is just out of reach of school budgets these days,” said Fi.

“We will be investigating grants but the chances of getting one will be limited because it will not a shared facility with the public, rather on school land."

The group have also raised £2,000 to subsidise next year’s school trips, as well as giving the annual £50 donation to every class, to be spent as the children and staff choose.

If you would like to donate to the help Sherston School raise money for their fitness trail, contact Fi Picton by emailing fi.parsons@which.net.