Pictured above: A wheelie good job (clockwise),  Scott Rutherford, Philip Taylor, David Binks and Joanna Thexton-Pee

Pupils in Four Oaks who have broken up for the summer holidays will find their schools looking very different on their return this autumn.  

That's because hard-working volunteers from Cushman & Wakefield have given up their time to add the finishing touches to the outdoor areas at the schools, Langley Special School, Coppice Primary School and Little Rainbows Nursery, which share the same site in Trinity Road, Four Oaks. The project was organised through Cares, the national employee volunteering initiative of Business in the Community.

The volunteers have created a wildlife habitat, built a number of raised beds so that the children can grow their own vegetables, and also painted the play areas and fences. 

The Cushman & Wakefield team was given a helping hand by two of the company's suppliers, facilities management firms Phosters and Mitie. The former supplied paint and brushes, and the latter sent along a specialist landscaping team to help out.

Scott Rutherford, head of the Birmingham office of Cushman & Wakefield, said he was proud of the efforts that his team had made.

"We all heard recently about how spending cuts will impact on planned improvements to our schools, so anything that the corporate sector can do to help will have a huge impact," he said.

"As a business, our national charity is 'Schools Around the World', so what we have been doing at Trinity Road fits in quite well with that. We've turned an ordinary concrete play area into something much more attractive, and the raised vegetable beds will create some practical benefits as well."

Langley School is unique in Birmingham, as it works in partnership with the mainstream school and the fee-paying nursery, to provide education and holiday provision for children aged 2-11, both mainstream and those with identified special needs.  The children come from more than 22 wards of the city and three other counties.