On Thursday, 20 April over twenty-five volunteers worked on cleaning, painting & gardening to prepare the Oasis Community Hub for its launch on Friday, 5 May 2017. The Oasis Community Hub is located on Park Road, Orpington BR5 4AS, adjacent to St Mary Cray Primary Academy. The centre will provide a friendly, nurturing environment with fun and creative activities for children from birth to 5 years and their parents and carers in the St Mary Cray community.

This project is the creation of the SMCPA leadership who want to offer more opportunities to children and their families before they begin primary school. The school have obtained initial funding from Child in Need and Awards for All, a National Lottery grant. This allowed the school to rent the Duke Youth Centre from LBBromley, which has been underutilised for several years. Volunteers arrived from 8:00 am to start their work on the Hub. Adam Lowing, Headteacher spoke to the group to share the school’s journey of improvement over the last three years and explained how the Hub will further extend the school’s relationship with the SMC community. There were 16 volunteers from Bank of America Merrill Lynch as well as staff from Bell Group UK, staff and governors from the school and volunteers from the community. Their work included cleaning and painting 5+ rooms internally, painting over some graffiti on the outside of the building, litter-picking the grounds and local area, mowing the lawn and improving the garden. Sheree Dargavel, Family Services Leader, remarked,” I have been overwhelmed by the generosity of the volunteers both on the day and with further offers of assistance and support in resourcing the centre. This project has been 12 months in the planning and I am truly excited about finally opening the doors. Here at SMCPA we are at the heart of the community and feel we are well placed to extend our offer to all families in St Mary Cray. It will be a pleasure to provide more opportunities for young families right here in their local area. Whether it is a pre-school gym club, a toddler group or opportunities to join local classes, we will be providing something for everyone at Oasis.”

From Monday, 8 May the hub will be open and offering a FREE range of activities for toddlers, sessions led by play professionals, a chance to meet neighbours and develop friendships, adult education classes with a crèche and a drop-in advice service for parents and carers. Interested families can find information on the school website (www.st-marycray.bromley.sch.uk), by email (admin@st-marycray.bromley.sch.uk) or telephone 01689 826 081. Adam Lowing, Headteacher, said, “We are delighted to continue to grow our school support and we look forward to seeing many families enjoying our new community hub.”

Julie Covill, Chair of governor, one of the volunteers on the day, said,”It was great to be part of getting such a positive project for the community a step closer to reality. We are so grateful to the BAML , Bell Group UK, and community volunteers for transforming a tired building into a vibrant, exciting place for toddlers and their families to learn and play.”

St Mary Cray Primary Academy is located at High Street, BR5 4AR and became part of the Spring Partnership Trust in November 2014. See website for further details: www.st-marycray.bromley.sch.uk. We’re also on Twitter @stmarycraypa

Submitted by Julie Covill