Outstanding Playground Equipment for an Outstanding Bishop Henderson C of E School
Pupils at Taunton's Bishop Henderson Church of England School, judged 'outstanding' after a recent Ofsted inspection, have bounced there way to buying exciting and challenging new outdoor playground equipment.
It took more than a year to make enough money for the fun new facility created by award-winning, Wiltshire-based Playforce. A lung-testing £4,000 of the total came from a sponsored bounce, some children notching up over 100 bounces a minute.
Bishop Henderson school already has Healthy Schools Status but felt a timber trail would help maintain the children's positive attitude to exercise, as well as adding variety and increasing the fun at play times.
Head teacher, Tracey Khodabandehloo said that she and the staff were also hoping the new playground equipment would help develop the children's social, co-operative and team-work skills.
"It has absolutely lived up to expectation," she said. "The children love it and so do their parents. It's good to see that as mums and dads wait for their children at the end of school the pre-school siblings get to use the timber trail too and seem to benefit from it just as much as their brothers and sisters. We even use it every day for our after school care club."
Mrs Khodabandehloo said that choosing and installing the childrens playground equipment had been quite a learning process for the children too.
Speaking through the school council, and with the expert guidance of the Playforce consultant, pupils were allowed to choose the outdoor playground equipment they wanted. They were also fascinated to watch it being installed, which added to the excitement and anticipation.
