We were delighted to be approached by Michelle Pennycott, the Business Manager of St Peter’s to help them redesign their KS1 and KS2 playgrounds. The school had a range of existing playground equipment in both areas, but the equipment was very old, outdated, and the existing surfacing had become worn and uneven. The school had been very fortunate in receiving a 45K grant from the Diocese, but time was of the essence as the quotation and playground installation needed to be completed in a relatively tight timeframe. It was imperative that we were able to work with St Peter’s to achieve this.
A key aim for the KS1 playground was to ensure that the whole area could be used all year round with the installation of suitable all-weather surfacing. The new play area also needed to include specific design elements, such as a storytelling area with seating, a space for open ended climbing and the overall landscaping needed to include tunnels and mounds.
The KS2 playground had an existing old timber trail that had been installed in a linear fashion along the edge of the tarmac playground. To replace this St Peter’s wanted a large open-ended piece of playground equipment which could be accessed at any point to challenge the older children. We worked with the school to produce a number of playground designs before together we agreed on the final version.
In the KS1 area we installed a Jungle Climber, Balance Beams, Tunnel and Mound, a Storytelling Chair and Maze Seating. The area is completely surfaced with Just Like Grass with safer surfacing as required and has created a free flowing play space.
In KS2 we installed a large Jungle Climber, Vertical Net Climber and Rock Climber – items designed to physically challenge the older children, which can be accessed at multiple points from the tarmac playground. This area was surfaced with Active Sport safer surfacing due to the high level nature of the equipment. We also resurfaced with Just Like Grass an existing Gym Area at the school which had fallen into disuse due to the poor state of the surfacing.