Mansfield pupils scoop £3k shopping prize

Teachers and pupils at a Mansfield school are drawing up a shopping list as they celebrate scooping top prize in a retail scheme.
Lea Park pupils with staff and Rebekah O'Neill and Mrs Helen Atkins.Lea Park pupils with staff and Rebekah O'Neill and Mrs Helen Atkins.
Lea Park pupils with staff and Rebekah O'Neill and Mrs Helen Atkins.

Leas Park Junior School in Mansfield Woodhouse was crowned the winner of the Chad-backed Shop for Schools initiative, run by Mansfield’s Four Seasons Shopping Centre.

Leas Park won the first prize of £3,000 after finishing the campaign with more ‘points’ than any other school in the area, ahead of Wynndale Primary School in Mansfield, which took the second prize of £1,000.

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Every participating school also received a ‘Grow Your Own Vegetables’ box to help establish their own vegetable patches.

Rebekah O’Neill, Four Season centre manager, said: “This has been an amazing year for Shop For Schools. We had hoped it was going to be another success and I’m delighted that we had almost 100,000 points collected over the course of the competition.”

Under the scheme, shoppers exchanged receipts for points to post in their chosen school’s special post box near the customer services desk, with several schools vying for the top spot as shoppers took advantage of various promotions and points offers.

Rebekah said: “This was our twelfth year of running Shop For Schools and we’re thrilled it has been another fantastic success. The schools can use the prize money to pay for whatever they want for their school – anything from new books and gym equipment through to training courses and computers.”

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Rebekah took the centre’s mascot, Buzz, along to the schools to present the winners with their prizes this week.

Helen Atkins, Leas Park headteacher, said everyone at the school was thrilled to have won the first prize.

She said: “We appreciate the help of all the children, parents and shoppers who gave their points to us this year.

“This is fantastic for the school and we’re hugely grateful to Four Seasons for this wonderful prize.”

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Mrs Atkins said the decision on what the prize money would be used for is being made in conjunction with children, parents and staff.

She said: “We have placed a suggestion box in the hall, and have invited our children, their parents, grandparents and our staff to let us have their suggestions and ideas as to what we should spend the money on.”

Jayne Gibbons, headteacher at Wynndale, which won the top prize last year, said their £1,000 prize would be used to buy a climbing wall for the school field.