The River is Rising! An Outdoor Playground at Black Brook Primary School
Five year old Devon is clutching the rope bridge and pointing earnestly below. Her friends Georgia and Jasmine, also five, look anxiously on.'The river is rising!' shouts Devon. 'People are going to die!'
'We've got to get food,' says four year old Angel. 'We'll just have to swim for it.'
She jumps off the bridge - not into the swirling mass of a river in full flood but, thankfully, onto the safety surface below.
Her friends follow her, so wrapped up in their game that the whole outdoor playground has become transformed into an exciting island where danger and adventure lurk in every physical challenge they face.
For five year old Brandon, though, things are very different. With his arms shoulder length apart, he is gripping an imaginary steering wheel, pursing his lips to produce a car engine-like sound, and negotiating his way around what has obviously become a very tricky racetrack.
He waits while the girls clamber on to two horizontal logs of wood where they are about to set up camp then makes for the balance beams to execute a spectacular piece of vehicular showmanship.
Sandra Clay has the bell in her hand and is preparing to ring it. She is Class Two form teacher at Blackbrook Primary School in Taunton and is in charge while Key Stage One pupils have the breaktime run of the outdoor playground.
'The children hate it when it's time to go in,' says Sandra. 'They love playing outside on the playground equipment and the exercise certainly improves their fitness and coordination skills. It also makes them much more physically aware of what other children are doing and teaches them to share.'
The outdoor play equipment was installed by Playforce four years ago and, according to both staff and parents, it is one of the best investments that the Friends of Blackbrook Primary School have ever made through their fundraising efforts.
'It was put in just before I was appointed headteacher,' says Moira Hope. 'Playforce had installed similar playground equipment in my previous school, so I knew how good and useful it would be.
'I think having a series of well-designed and durable timber trail obstacles for the children to play on is extremely important in helping to develop fine and gross motor skills. Not only that, they learn how to wait their turn, play with pupils of different age groups and, creatively, it gives them an opportunity to use their imagination.
'Most of all, however, playing on the outdoor play equipment makes them happy and a happy child is generally a productive child.'
Blackbrook Primary School has 240 pupils and is currently working towards Healthy School status. Having access to childrens play equipment that challenges the children physically, socially and intellectually is seen as an important part of that ongoing programme and the Somerset Activity and Sports Partnership (SASP) are likely to use it in the outdoor education activities they have planned at the school this summer.
In the meantime, the playground equipment may be four years old but it is as much in demand as ever. Children of all ages play on it together at break and lunchtimes - there is no rota system - and, far from wanting to get away from school as quickly as possible, they also play on it before and after school too.
'It's brilliant,' says Laura Benham, one of the mums waiting to take her four year old daughter Isabel home. 'I bring my two year old, Emily, so that she can play on it after school as well. It's not so big that you can't easily keep an eye on them and it teaches them lots of new physical skills.'
'Having the outdoor play equipment here means my daughter Rebecca can let off steam before I take her home,' adds Jeanette Heaslewood. 'It's great because she watches the older ones and copies what they do. There are so few places where you can find outdoor playgrounds like this and it's not like the old days when you could let your children roam about more. They need to be supervised but they also need the freedom to have fun and play their own games.
'The only problem comes when I have to tell Rebecca it's time to go...'
For Mum Linda Littlejohns, the Playforce outdoor playground also has another big advantage.
'I haven't got a back garden at home so there is nowhere for my two daughters to play,' she said. 'Letting them play here means that my two year old is able to wear herself out in a healthy, physically active way.
