A NURSERY is asking people to get behind it and help its campaign to save its forest school.

Southwell Smiley Faces nursery, on Portland, was invited in 2014 to use a nature area at IPACA’s Southwell Campus to develop a wildlife friendly garden and outdoor classroom.

The team cleared the site, which the school hadn’t used for several years and was unsafe and overgrown, and created a wildlife haven and outdoor classroom.

It was awarded the best wildlife friendly garden in the community award by the Dorset Wildlife Trust in July 2016.

IPACA has now left the site and Dorset County Council intends to sell it for housing.

Now though, the nursery has launched a survey, to gain data to present to the council to support their campaign to keep the forest school when any development takes place.

Jen Whyton, from the nursery, said: “We did a lot of work in our own time and we’ve put nature boxes in there and created a really wonderful area that we’ve been really successful in.

“We’ve got this wonderful habitat for the children to go in and learn about nature.”

She added that the classroom gives children responsibility and helps them to learn if they struggle to do so in a classroom environment.

The Dorset Wildlife Trust has put its support behind the nursery, hailing the space as “wonderful”.

It has also been backed by Mike Burks, managing director of the Gardens Group, that owns Poundbury Gardens.

He said: “It is a great shame that this wonderful outdoor learning space, which is home to so many bees, bugs, butterflies and birds, is due to be sold to housing developers. It’s a sad thought that all of the wonderful work that Jenny and the children have carried out is due to be dug up and replaced by bricks and mortar.

“I know Jenny is doing all she can to try and retain this plot, despite the development work planned, and I would urge everyone to show as much support as possible to save this valuable space, not only for the wildlife thriving in it today, but also for the future of our wildlife for generations to come.”

A spokesman for Dorset County Council said: “We are aware of Smiley Faces Nursery’s interest in the land to the rear of their premises adjacent to the former Southwell Primary School site.

“Dorset County Council is obliged to get the best value for the disposal of its property assets and is currently exploring a potential sale of the site as a whole to the Homes and Communities Agency.”

To fill in the survey, go to www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Z6JQH5X