Outdoor Playground Development at Ravensdale Primary School
We sent out a questionnaire to both our children and parents regarding the school asking them to identify areas of strength and any thing that they feel we could improve on.
Both suggested that the outdoor playground was an area for development as it currently resembled the landing strip at Coventry airport!
The feedback from the questionnaire coincided with us achieving our Bronze and Silver Healthy Schools Award and our wish to extend these further to achieve Gold Healthy Schools Award. To achieve the Gold Award we would need to develop an area of school which would promote activity and the outdoor playground seemed the obvious place in which to do this.
After gaining support and agreement from the Governing Body we identified specific funds within the school budget in the next financial year and also gained a commitment from the Parent, School association who made a commitment to raise £6,000 towards the project.
Following this, we set up a working party made up of staff, governors, parents and children whose brief was to work within an agreed budget and to put forward a proposal for expenditure which positively promoted a Healthy Lifestyle and reflected the wished of the children.
We wanted to create an inclusive outdoor play equipment environment which reflects the ethos of the school and maximises the opportunity for positive, active play experiences for all children.
Initially the working party discussed the area available for playground equipment development and then planned how they would gain the views of the children. It was agreed that I would meet with all the children and brief them on the proposed plans and ask them to design an outdoor playground for Ravensdale which would encourage creative play and activity and which would meet the needs of all our children irrespective of their age range. Having gained the children's views the working party then put together a proposal for the playground equipment which accommodated as many of the children's ideas as we could - the bowling area and the skateboarding zone never quite made the final plan! 
The working party then researched into a wide range of companies who were advertising in education magazines, at the same time, I met with Health & Safety Advisors from Coventry City Council to ensure that any developments we made were in accordance with Health & safety guidance. The working party then agreed to meet with 4 different contractors to present our plans and to gain their perspective on how we could make best use of the playground, our plans and our money. All contractors submitted plans to us which we then reviewed in accordance with 'best Value' guidelines.
We then narrowed it down to 2 contractors who we met again with, one of whom was Playforce, which we selected to work with. We chose Playforce because of their enthusiasm and flexibility and the no nonsense practical advice that they gave us. They also committed to give us what we wanted within a time scale and price that met with our requirements. We weren't disappointed, the team that arrived on site were well mannered, hardworking and completed the task within the agreed timescale, and they ensured that the equipment was left ready for use and that it met all the necessary H & S requirements. The outdoor playground is an area that the children are rightly proud of and, in a recent survey about what you enjoy most about school - the Timber Trail came out on tops. We have since made other additions to the playground equipment, but the Timber Trail is, without doubt, the number one best seller!
The working party were really pleased and proud of their work and rightly so, we have managed to improve the quality of outdoor classroom provision and at the same time promote activity in a fun and exciting way during lunchtimes and playtimes.
