New Playground Equipment for Healthy Highland Bishop Eden School
Pupils at an Inverness school are being stretched to the limit by exciting and challenging new playground equipment.
The timber trail and climbing frame have been specifically designed not just to exercise young bodies but also to stimulate imagination and improve social skills.
"It's absolutely great," said the head teacher of Bishop Eden's School, Liz Mackay. "The children love it, they can't wait for break and lunchtimes so they can play on it and I have had visitors from other schools here who have been rather jealous of our new outdoor play equipment.
"When it arrived the children used it in the obvious way but now they've begun to introduce a bit of ingenuity and imagination into their games. The little ones have been particularly creative, but we've also noticed a distinct improvement in behaviour with everyone being included and sharing."
Bishop Eden's School is already an accredited, level four, Health Promoting School - the highest level achievable - but is serious about maintaining this standard and ensuring pupils understand the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.
With a Lottery grant and the backing of parents, pupils and staff, Mrs Mackay called in the help of Playforce, one of the UK's leading providers of playground equipment, to create the perfect playtime environment.
They chose a timber trail with swinging tyres, a criss-cross rope traverse, a swinging bridge, stepping posts, a balance beam and a hanging rope traverse. With the younger children in mind, staff also included a climbing frame, but the older pupils enjoy it just as much, according to Mrs Mackay.
Playforce is an award-winning company, based in Wiltshire, dedicated to designing school playground equipment that supports learning and develops children's minds and bodies through fun.
The company prides itself on the ability to create childrens play equipment play areas that stimulate imaginations and improve social behaviour, at the same time as stretching their muscles. Each piece of outdoor playground equipment is designed to work on developing specific areas of the body and motor-skills.
