A GROUP of teachers and parents are leaping 15,000 feet from an aeroplane to raise £4,000 to complete an amphitheatre in a woodland area in their school grounds.

The 12 intrepid souls from Hatherleigh Primary School are being spurred on by Donna Lewis, chair of the school’s Parents, Teachers and Friends Association, who has four children at the school.

Teachers Hugh Lea and Will Bardot are among the group who will be boarding the light aircraft at Dunkeswell Aerodrome on the Devon-Somerset border for the jump early on Sunday, September 16.

Each of them will be strapped to an instructor and a parachute, which will open once they leap from the plane.

Donna admitted to a few nerves and said one the group was even conquering a fear of heights to take to the skies.

‘I have been fundraising for a while and we have had lots of smaller events and we needed something on a larger scale, so I came up with this bright idea,’ she said.

‘The teachers are jumping as well, which is more of an incentive for people to sponsor us.’

‘When I went into the school to ask them, they leapt at the chance and were really up for taking part.’

The money raised from sponsorship will be used to build another tier of seating in the amphitheatre in the woods at the school – a popular place for outdoor lessons, storytelling and pizza evenings.

‘We just want to see the woodland area finished,’ said Donna. ‘A couple of mums who are taking part have children going into their last year at school and it would be good to see it finished before they leave.’

The group, called Woodland Flyers, can be sponsored through its page on the Just Giving website.

There is also a Facebook page.