Adventure Playground for Leominster Junior School
Playforce, Britain's premier provider of playground equipmenthas transformed
the grounds of Leominster Junior School.
The school's 420 pupils, aged seven to 11, played a huge role in the outdoor playground make-over by raising the money, researching possible suppliers and working tirelessly on a design to please everyone.
Playforce consultant, Sam Flatman, said that as customers the children had certainly put him through his paces, but the end result had been a complete success.
Sam said: "The brief was demanding but very clear. The staff had helped the School Council do lots of research into the project to find the right company for the job and then advised them on how to create a 'wish list' of playground equipment.
"The brief was: something to climb by going under, over, through, round and useable throughout the year. A place to be crazy, to hide, talk, balance, swing, crawl, jump and be imaginative. It was a tall order, but nothing Playforce couldn't handle."
Once Sam had been told what was required he produced a design with a price. The next step was raising the money, which all members of the school, family and friends achieved with a sponsored walk.
The school's headmaster Mr Richards, said the playground equipment was being thoroughly enjoyed by the children.
"The pupils had quite a lot of input when it came to choosing the outdoor play equipment. It proved an extremely useful exercise on a number of levels, the more 'ownership' the children have the more they tend to appreciate it and look after it.
"What is quite clear is how much they love it; it has extended the activities open to them, especially on wet days because of the all-weather surface. The parents helped a lot to raise the money to buy the playground equipment and they are really pleased with their purchase too."
The children can now stretch their minds and bodies with a fabulous series of timber trails including: step up beams in a fan shape for the children to use as hurdles or seats; a rock and roll log with detachable tarpaulin tunnel; step up posts - for those who want to work out, stretch and jump; a crossed rope-walk to create a twisting challenge; a net bridge, which the children feel could be a castle, or for playing 'trolls' or it could be a space ship that you have to stop the 'baddies' invading, the possibilities are endless. There is also a web traverse, a log forest and a spring-board, apparently to practise surfing.
The children's input did not stop when the playground equipment was installed. Molly and Jonathon were asked to talk to their fellow pupils and discover exactly what they thought.
Comments gave the outdoor playground a resounding top marks and a survey showed the Rock 'n' Roll Log to be the most popular item. Comments included: "Fantastic," "It's excellent," "It's really fun to play on," "Best in the world," "It's good because it tires you out."
