A YOUNG Forest of Dean resident has been praised for his efforts, after raising over £500 towards a new playground fundraiser.

Seven-year-old Theo Worgan heard the Heart of the Forest School was looking to raise money for a new playground, and decided he wanted to help. In March, he undertook a challenge to walk, run and cycle 30 miles.

Theo set a target of £100, but he managed to surpass it to an extraordinary £545. On Friday, April 24, he formally presented a cheque to Assistant Headteacher of the school, Kelly Lindenberg.

Kelly said: “Theo has done an amazing job, he’s taken it upon himself to fundraise money for our school. Somewhere where his mum works and somewhere where he knows lots of the children.

“It’s fantastic that he’s taken on the opportunity to fundraise for our school. He originally wanted to raise £100, but managed to raise £545 which exceeded expectations! I think he enjoyed doing it along the way too.

“It’ll be really lovely to see the playground when it’s eventually built - and his money has contributed to that for the needs of our children in our school, so it’s fabulous!”.

Theo’s efforts were brought about by wanting to help out both the school and his friends.

Carly Worgan, Theo’s mother and Grade 6 Teaching Assistant at the school said: “Theo did amazing. He came up with the idea himself. We do respite for one of the pupils here and he wanted him to be able to play on the swings and slides again.”

Coleford’s Heart of the Forest Community Special School is trying to raise money for an accessible and interactive playground to cater for all abilities within the school. This will include equipment such as an accessible swing for wheelchair users with pull rope, a timber swing set with flat swing, bucket swing and basket swing and an accessible roundabout.

Plans also hope for sensory boards, a timber aerial zip line, crawl tunnels, a steel climbing play unit with aspects for balance, crawling, sliding and climbing, and a trim trail. The playground will be surrounded with appropriate safety surfacing to allow smooth transition for all pupils.

Kelly explained the new playground will be majorly beneficial to the pupils in a variety of ways.

She said: “It not only helps socially, giving them somewhere for social skills allowing them to interact in that kind of environment, but physically. There’s going to be lots of equipment on there which enables them to develop their fine motor and gross motor skills and will support the needs of all the children in our school. It will give them an outdoor space where they can be free and be children. It will be amazing for them.”

To raise the funds required, the school is looking to conduct more fundraising activities in the near future. If you are interested in helping the school reach its monetary goal, you can contact Senior Administrator Laura Small via email on [email protected]