SCHOOL pupils will have the chance to learn about wildlife at a new centre part funded by parents.

An Outdoor Learning Environment at Wilmington Grammar School for Girls was unveiled on Thursday (April 20) by the heir to Lullingstone Castle, Tom Hart-Dyke, who spent his early 20s searching for rare orchids and plants.

Paid for by the school’s Parents and Friends Association and National Lottery funding, it will be available for other local schools and includes a wild flower meadow, a bug manor, a bog garden, a wildlife pond dating from 1905, a hedgehog house and a bird hide.

A plaque was unveiled in memory of Sir James Whitehead, who lived in Wilmington Manor from 1881 and was Lord Mayor of London in 1888.

Much of the work was carried out by Kent Probation and the Community Payback Scheme.