A STROUD school with fewer than 40 pupils has found a way to overcome its size to create a great outdoor environment and provide free school meals.

Staff at Sheepscombe Primary School have found practical solutions to deliver the best for their 33 pupils despite the issues they face with size and access.

Located on a cul-de-sac in the small, rural village, the school is built on a split site with a public footpath running through the grounds.

It has three classrooms, one of which doubles up as a lunch hall, a reception area, a shared space room for assemblies and toilets for staff and children.

Recently the school’s issue with space has been highlighted as a result of the government’s scheme to deliver free school meals to all Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 children.

For pupils at the school in Far End this has proved to be almost impossible as there is no kitchen facility at the school, nor is there any space to build one.

Therefore the staff have had to find another way to offer this service to its 18 Key Stage One pupils.

“Currently we are only able to offer a cold option but we are getting very close to having a hot option as well,” explained Sheepscombe headteacher Sara Bennion.

The meals, which include sandwiches, wraps and jacket potatoes, are prepared at Thomas Keble School in Eastcombe, which is more than six miles away.

They are then transported by taxi between the schools at a cost of around £15 per day.

“Thomas Keble has been fantastic and we can’t thank them enough for helping us to overcome our size problem so we can provide this service for our pupils,” said Mrs Bennion.

The school has also just had a £15,000 outdoor play area installed for its pupils.

“Space is a real issue for us but we managed to find a great way to really utilise it for the children,” added Mrs Bennion.

“It’s a really great community and everyone from the school and the village helped to fundraise for the new play areas.”

Thanks to a £10,000 lottery grant and some unique fundraising ideas which included a cheese and wine night and a concert put on by some of the dads, the school was able to raise the money needed for the adventure play area.

Made by outdoor play equipment provider Schoolscapes it includes a clatter bridge, a rocky traverse split wall and a log crossing. The playground surface has also been replaced.