Haywards Heath primary school helping to prevent flooding in the district

Children at Haywards Heath primary school have helped to reduce the risk of flooding in the local area
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Pupils at Wivesfield Primary School have been working alongside the Ouse & Adur Rivers Trust to build rainscapes and install rain planters on the school grounds.

Helen Smith, Headteacher at Wivelsfield Primary School, said: "This initiative offers a great opportunity to further enhance our grounds as an outdoor classroom, along with enabling hands on learning experiences to teach children about how climate change and water from developments cause flooding and how we can reduce this.”

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Rainscapes store water and slow its flow during periods of heavy rainfall, while a rain planter receives water from the drainpipes and absorbs into the soil, storing it for the benefit of plants.

The children have been working alongside the Ouse & Adur Rivers Trust to build rainscapes and install rain planters on the school grounds.The children have been working alongside the Ouse & Adur Rivers Trust to build rainscapes and install rain planters on the school grounds.
The children have been working alongside the Ouse & Adur Rivers Trust to build rainscapes and install rain planters on the school grounds.

The project has been completed with funding and support from Lewes District Council, as part of the authority’s natural flood management works.

This is part of a wider partnership approach working with Ouse and Adur Rivers Trust and Sussex Flow Initiative, landowners and others that the council has been supporting to promote natural flood management approaches on the River Ouse.

The council believes this work reduces the risk of flooding, increases biodiversity, assists in improving water quality and helps make our district more climate resilient.

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Councillors from Lewes District Council visited Wivesfield Primary School to see how the children have been helping to make the district more resilient to climate change.

Councillor Matthew Bird said: “It is terrific to see how engaged the young people are in the project and the important contribution they are making in tackling the impacts of climate change.”

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