A PRIMARY school wants to raise £75,000 for new playing fields by asking parents to sponsor a square of artificial grass.

Appleton CofE Primary School’s pitch is currently so small that only one class can use it at a time. And it is also so muddy they can only use it in spring and summer.

They are even forced to play on the staff car park at break time, with staff moving their cars out of the way.

The school said the playing field was in such a bad state that if children played on it in the winter it would turn into a mud bath.

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The parent teacher association has come up with an innovative way to raise £75,000 for a larger, all-weather synthetic pitch.

Friends of Appleton School is asking people to each sponsor one square metre of the 1,250 sq m field for £10 a piece.

It is launching its new fundraising campaign tonight at the school with two open meetings from 3pm to 4pm and 5.30pm to 9pm.

Friends chairman Philip Briscoe, whose five-yearold daughter Cecily is at the school, said: “At the moment the kids just aren’t getting outside.

“They can’t get out and play and exercise and that is so important for kids’ development, and of course for parents so they aren’t bouncing off the walls when they get home. At the moment the teachers have a ridiculous situation where they have to hold classes outside for 15 minutes at a time and move the cars out of the car park for break time.”

He said the field and play areas were designed when the school had fewer than 100 pupils. It now has more than 180.

The £75,000 would pay for a pitch about double the size of the current one, made of modern artificial turf, and new matting beneath the monkey bars and apparatus.

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Headteacher Annabel Brown.

Headteacher Annabel Brown said: “It would be lovely for the children to have a usable outside area all year round so they could get out and play at the same time.

“The new turf will be better spec and increase the area so we can get two or three classes out at a time.”

The Friends group has already raised £20,000 over the past few years through previous fundraisers. It is also asking businesses to donate and will be bidding for grants. People can donate by emailing friendsofappletonschool@gmail.com or texting the amount they want to give (£1, £5 or £10) and the code FOAS15 to 70070.