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Active Play Trails at St Anne’s Catholic Primary School!

Posted on by Samantha Tolley

The Customer

St Anne’s Catholic Primary School in Birkenhead strives to fill their pupils with the confidence and faith to give anything a go, taking chances and learning valuable new skills.

Providing an active play and sports space for their pupils to explore, building solid friendships with their peers, growing their confidence and mastering all-important life skills was a major priority for St Anne’s, so they contacted Pentagon Play to support them with this project.

a shot of the kids crossing the step traverse

To see more of our Individual Trim Trail Items, Visit our Active Play Items Now! 

Their Objectives

Experienced Outdoor Learning Consultant, Ian Wood, worked closely with the school to understand their priorities and goals with their project to suggest equipment best suited to them and their pupils.

Their top priorities were:

  1. A fenced-off football area
  2. Improve the bare concrete space they currently had
  3. Incorporate active play and climbing in some way

the key figures for this project at St Anne's Catholic School Birkenhead

Our Approach

To meet the needs of a fenced-off football area, Ian suggested the development of a 19mx15m Multi-Use Games Area.

a birdseye view of the MUGA with children playing football on it

This MUGA came with 2m fencing all the way round, preventing the ball from escaping and invading other areas of the playground, yet giving the pupils plenty of height to play with when sending the ball flying from one end of the pitch to the other.

The 4G Sports Surfacing makes this a high-quality playing space where pupils will feel just like they’re playing in the premier league!

a child stands and kicks the ball

To combat the bare concrete space, Ian first added some Playturf Deluxe Artificial Grass, replacing the grey surfacing with a bright and vibrant green base for pupils to enjoy.

All the benefits of a grass space, without any of the weather issues that occur with a real field of grass!

On top of that grass, Ian added several pieces of climbing equipment in the form of individual trim trail items that came together to form a bespoke active play trail for the pupils to enjoy.

This included a Zigzag Log Bridge Crossing, Platform to Platform Beam Crossing, Step Rope Traverse and an Incline Balance Beam Crossing.

a child lies on his front in front of the triangle tunnel with climbing walls

This is the perfect space for the KS2 pupils.

However, we couldn’t forget about the KS1 pupils either!

In their play space, Ian added some more Playturf Deluxe Artificial Grass to give the same luscious green look as the KS2 space.

He also added various other low-level pieces of climbing equipment, including Walk and Stretch Steps, Drop Rope Balance Traverse, and a Triangle Tunnel with Climbing Walls, for the pupils to explore.

a child crosses the incline balance beam

In this environment, pupils can build their confidence through play as they explore climbing and begin taking risks in their play!

The Results

Well, it’s safe the say that the staff and the pupils at St Anne’s were very pleased indeed!

The children now have a bright and engaging play space where they can experiment with their skills and with the different equipment to test their abilities and discover their strengths.

a child uses his upper body strength to hold himself up on the traverse

There are such a variety of challenges for the children to enjoy, meaning there is fun to be had daily for years to come.

The MUGA also offers a great sports space for the pupils to take both P.E lessons and playtime, using the environment for a range of sports from football to hockey to rounders if they wish!

children play football on the pitch

We loved being a part of this project with St Anne’s and we wish them all the best with their new play environment.

If you're interested in developing a similar sport space, Contact Our Team today to discuss your options. 



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