Tesco Bags for Help Scheme funds education programme

Burgess Hill Academy hopes to bring the exciting and alternative education programme to students

Between May 7 and June 30, there will be a new set of projects at the front of the four Tesco stores in Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath and one of these will be in support of the academy in Station Road.

A spokesman said: “By taking a piece of waste ground and turning it into a living ‘classroom’ where students can grow plants and foodstuffs, construct the environment to suit their needs and work as a team, we hope to create a lasting educational space that will engage those for whom a traditional educational route is not motivating.

“We also hope that this will start a school wide development of education about healthy living and sustainability, allowing these students to champion it rather than it being driven by teaching staff.

“Some students need to see that education is more than just sitting tests and exam grades and through this project we hope build success into the students’ mind-set; give these students who do not traditionally have a positive voice in the school community a chance to contribute and lead; look to improve social skills, confidence levels and attitudes to school which will have a benefit on the traditional studies that they must still undertake as they move through the academy.

“Ultimately, this is a project that we want to be driven by the students, for the students. We hope this project will build their entrepreneurship skills so that they will manage and direct future developments.

“This is a small start into what we hope will become something much more central to the way we work at the academy.

“We hope that the local communities will support us in order to obtain this funding.”

The programme will allow students to work away from the formal classroom setting, build a set of life skills that will motivate them in their future studies and apply learning in a real life setting.  

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