A new community facility has opened in the grounds of Kymin View School which will eventually be open to all members of the community in Wyesham and eventually other wider communities too.

The idea started about two years ago when they applied to get funding through a community engagement grant and then once a suitable site had been identified, Monmouthshire County Council were the link with the building team and oversaw the building of the facility in the school grounds.

Emma Merrett, Deputy Head explained:”We started about two years ago and were able to get some funding through a community engagement grant.”

Once a suitable site was identified, work began!

“We are looking at headlining ‘community kitchen cooking’ and the involvement of the community with the children but also as a meeting space for families if they need it.

It would be independent of the school and more for the community

Emma who is also the lead for the senior leadership team for community engagement added that the school works very closely with the Wyesham Together team - a joint venture group between Wyesham Christian Fellowship and St James Church Wyesham - which may involve Reverend Tim Starling bringing in families for the ‘tea and toast’ scheme and coming to school to have breakfast.

“We know we will have parents out there that will benefit from this scheme and then moving forward, we will set up cookery clubs and opportunities under that guise.”

They secured a local grant to supply kitchen items such as cooker and fridge

She added that thay have highlighted family and parental engagement events through the school “but now we want to extend it wider, and with a community like this, we need to look after each other.”

It’s open to anyone, whether they have a child at the school or not although presently they will be open during school hours, but hope to extend that to out of school hours.

They are also hoping to engage on a ‘multi-generational’ level and have the elderly members of Wyesham coming to the facility as they have identified that 38 per cent of the community are retired.