MEDSTEAD Primary School’s new sensory art room has been opened officially.

A major project by Four Marks and Medstead Rotary Club to enhance the facilities at the school, the £3,760 project was funded by an £1,800 cash donation from the club, with the addition of funding from Rotary grants and donations from the club’s numerous business partners.

The school has a specialist unit for pupils with impaired hearing, and the new facility will also be used for children with other special needs.

Designed to provide alternative teaching methods for these pupils, the converted store room is now equipped with the latest interactive sensory equipment and art displays, there is a bubble tower, an infinity LED wall mirror, sensory light toys, LED light strings and light ball, and UV lighting.

The pupils will also be able to use magnetic art wall boards, including a stunning snakes and ladders-themed game designed and painted by Rotary member Tom Yendell, a mouth and foot painting artist from Holybourne.

The new facility, which was opened last Wednesday, will also provide a recreational room for special needs children, and a quiet room for learning away from a noisy classroom environment.

The project was led by club member Mike ‘Sparks’ Sanders, who co-ordinated the work by volunteers and local companies.

Mike said: “We have had the most superb support and sponsorship from a number of local companies and organisations, who have been enthusiastic in their backing for this worthwhile development.”

In expressing grateful thanks to Four Marks and Medstead Rotary Club and their business and voluntary partners for providing the new sensory art room, Lucy Bush and David Watkins, heads of specialist provision for the deaf at Medstead Primary School, said in a joint statement: “Rotarian Mike Saunders has diligently worked alongside the school from the start to the end of the project. We have ensured that the room provides a flexible learning space that can be accessed by children across the school for a range of activities.

“The children of Medstead Primary School will benefit hugely from the new use of an old store room. It will provide a stimulating space for children with additional needs, a fun space for literacy and numeracy activities using the magnetic boards and UV lights, and an engaging space where children from the specialist resourced provision for the deaf can learn new vocabulary and enjoy individual or group learning activities.”