Project Overview
Located within the bustling city of Birmingham, Yenton Primary School are constantly striving to deliver the best environment for their pupils to thrive in. Through this constant seeking of improvement, the school started to notice how their playground was starting to look quite outdated.
Not only was the surfacing worn-out, but the EYFS play area was separated into two individual playgrounds by a fence. Wanting to establish a sense of togetherness and provide a safe and exciting environment for their children to play in, the school decided that a huge overhaul was needed.
Coming to the UK’s number one playground installation and designing company, Yenton Primary School spoke to our Regional Sales Manager for the Midlands, Sam Jones (who has years of experience when it comes to designing some of the most exciting playgrounds across the area).
Throughout the conversation, the school highlighted how they want to remove the fence separating the two EYFS play areas and join them together to create the ultimate open playground for their children to thrive in. Alongside this, the school also wanted to have a wide variety of play equipment that would assist the pupils in the 7 areas of EYFS learning.
The Challenge
Understanding what the school wanted, Sam quickly got to work drafting up a plan. This project was going to pose a few challenges for the team (but nothing that we can’t handle)!
The first challenge would be creating a design that would naturally unify the two play areas once the fence was down. The school emphasised the importance of making the new large play area look flawless, leaving no hints that the area used to be two separate play areas.
Alongside this, the pre-existing play equipment and surfacing would have to be removed. Removal often requires a strategic plan put in place to ensure that time is spent wisely to avoid any disruptions to the delivery of the new playground.
Another issue that quickly arose was figuring out what pieces of play equipment were needed within the space. Having a large play area can often be overwhelming for schools as large spaces often require more equipment to look full, meaning the overall cost can get expensive.
The final challenge was all about creating an organised space that children could easily navigate around. As the school wanted the new play area to promote the 7 areas of learning, Sam had to ensure that the new play space was perfectly zoned out, whilst maintaining the free-flow nature that the school desperately wanted.
The Process
With the challenges and objectives laid out, Sam got to work with designing Yenton’s brand new playground. Throughout the entire process, Sam would share ideas and recommendations with Manisha (the assistant headteacher) to ensure that the school had full control over every aspect of their playground.
Once a design was agreed upon, Sam met with our talented in-house visualisation team. This team allows our company to create realistic 2D & 3D computer generated graphics and images that showcase how a new playground will look in a school’s environment. These visualisations are priceless as they allow all stakeholders to easily imagine the impact that their new playground will have on the children and school.
Whilst the visualisation team kept cranking out their fantastic visuals, our manufacturing team got straight to work on building the equipment. Unlike other companies, all of our play equipment is built on-site within the UK, allowing us to create bespoke or unique changes to meet your requirements.
As soon as all of the equipment was crafted from our high-quality, sustainable and durable materials, our installation team loaded the equipment onto their vans and drove straight to the school. As the installation took place during the summer holidays, the school was amazed by the speed and efficiency of our installation team, ensuring that their new playground was ready for the new academic year.
The Results
After weeks of hard work and graft, our team were excited to show the staff of the school around their new playground! Instantly, the staff were breath taken by the beautiful combination of wetpour and artificial grass as the new safety surfacing. Not only did it make the new play area look seamlessly unified, but it also provided a safe surface for any trips or tumbles, massively reducing the chances of a serious injury.
Exploring the new area, the staff were quick to point out how open the space was, whilst offering the children a variety of unique zones to explore to improve their knowledge within the 7 areas of EYFS learning. These areas included:
- An open-ended physical development zone (helping the pupils with physical and personal development)
- A beautiful nature and science zone (assisting children with understanding more about the world around them, as well as literacy and mathematics)
- An exciting outdoor classroom (providing the unique opportunity for outdoor learning)
- A new water play zone (enhancing students’ maths and science skills)
- A stimulating sensory pathway (allowing children to explore the world with their senses, as well as providing a great spot for SEN children to stimulate and relax)
- A state-of-the-art performance stage (encouraging children to engage with expressive art and design, whilst improving their communication and social skills)
Each zone held a variety of play equipment that not only would help children develop themselves and their knowledge about the world around them, but it would also provide something equally important: fun!
Whether it was the incredible freestanding timber canopy (8M x 4M) or the innovative Rope and Pulley Materials Mover, the staff were taken aback by the amount of unique and engaging play equipment that had brought a whole other dimension to their playground.
After the tour of their new playground was completed, the school were amazed by how quickly the transformation had taken place, but more importantly, how high-quality everything was. The assistant headteacher even went so far as to say that they’ll be recommending us to other schools within the local area.
Reflection
Yenton Primary School was an absolute pleasure to work with! From the initial meetings to the debrief, the staff at the school always remained friendly and welcomed Pentagon Play into their lovely school community!
Carrying out a job of this scale is no easy task, but Pentagon Play have over 20 years of experience within the industry and have completed jobs in over 15,000 unique locations. With stats like these, you’ll find it hard to find another company that can match the quality we offer our clients.
Like all of our customers, Yenton Primary School will have access to our incredible aftercare team who will be on hand to handle any problems (if they should occur) and to provide advice on how to get the most out of their playground. In addition, they also can use our fantastic RPII-accredited inspections and maintenance service, which will help them ensure that their playground meets all safety requirements.
We wish the absolute best to this fantastic school and from everyone here at Pentagon Play, welcome to the Pentagon family!
