"We hope that the staff and pupils will continue to enjoy the spaces for many years to come."
Jill Johnston, AkzoNobel Ashington
AkzoNobel, which has just celebrated the first anniversary of the launch of its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in neighbouring Ashington, provided 70 litres of its Cuprinol Garden Shades branded paint in a variety of different colours to Shanklea Primary School in Cramlington to enable the school to transform its outdoor spaces into a bright, fun environment for the children to enjoy.
The global paint manufacturer was approached directly about the possibility of donating paint to the project by one of the school mums, Angela Spedding, whose son and daughter both attend Shanklea Primary School.
Angela contacted AkzoNobel’s site support coordinator, Jill Johnston, after reading about similar projects the company had completed in the local area. She said:
“I read in the school newsletter that the teachers were looking for items and resources to enhance the school grounds and outdoor play areas.
“The teachers at the school have been absolutely amazing supporting my daughter, who is autistic, and my son during their time at the school, and have provided a real support mechanism for us as a family so I was keen to help with the project in any way possible.
“I knew that AkzoNobel had been involved with similar community projects in the area so I decided to approach them to see if there was any chance they could provide some paint for us.”
Since opening its flagship manufacturing site in Ashington in 2017, AkzoNobel has been committed to bringing colour into people’s lives through a variety of community engagement projects as part of its Dulux Smarter Spaces initiative.
Dulux Smarter Spaces is the company’s campaign to improve teaching and learning environments through thoughtful and inclusive design.
Kay Laughton, early years manager at Shanklea Primary School, said:
“The outdoor spaces around the school were simply looking tired and a bit tatty as they hadn’t been painted for a few years so we decided to put a call out to parents to see if anyone could donate a few tins to help us spruce the place up.
“When Angela got in touch to say that she had managed to get AkzoNobel involved, we were completely overwhelmed. The site provided more than enough paint for us to re-colour the fences, sheds, the trellises in our vegetable garden and the children’s play area, including the mud kitchen. The area has been completely transformed into a bright, stimulating area for the children.
“The painting was carried out by the teachers with help from some of the pupils but the transformation wouldn’t have been possible without AkzoNobel. We really appreciate their kind donation and we can’t thank them enough.”
Jill Johnston, site support coordinator at AkzoNobel Ashington, added:
“We were delighted to be able to help Shanklea Primary School with the rejuvenation of its outdoor spaces.
“The new colourful playground and fences are really striking and make such a difference to the overall look and feel of the school.
“We hope that the staff and pupils will continue to enjoy the spaces for many years to come.”
For more information about AkzoNobel and its range of products, including Cuprinol Garden Shades, visit www.akzonobel.com.
