Since the beginning of the school year, playtime has taken on a new meaning for the school’s infant pupils as they challenge themselves physically and mentally with a range of inspiring and colourful obstacles.
Head teacher of the school in Lower Harpers Road, Abersychan, Joy Dando, explained that in such a deprived area of the country this playground is making a real difference.
“We are delighted with the equipment on our infant yard,” said Ms Dando. “It provides high quality outdoor learning experiences and embeds Foundation Phases skills and learning. The children love their new equipment and play on it at every opportunity. They are actively involved at last.”
The playground includes a climbing wall, a water trough, a sand pit, log stepping stones, a games board table, a wooden and rope suspension bridge, an arched bridge and a balancing beam.
Playforce fitted a climbing frame for the school two years ago with money raised by the PTA. Whilst ordering it, staff were introduced to other equipment the Wiltshire-based company offers and made a decision to find a way of providing it for their pupils. They were over the moon when they won the grant from the Welsh Assembly and knew exactly how they would spend it.
Staff at the school were keen to praise the Playforce team – both sales consultants and installers - describing them as full of ideas and extremely helpful. The general feeling is that playtime has now become a far less chaotic affair and the new equipment has inspired the children to structure themselves into creating and organising imaginative and exciting games, without adult intervention. “It’s great for the children to have something decent to play on. There aren’t many other places locally for them to play outside,” said Ms Dando.
Fitness a priority for Dyfed School children
Concern over fitness levels amongst school children is being tackled by one Dyfed school with new exciting Playforce playground equipment.
Aberporth Primary School was lucky enough to be fitted with a wide range of playground obstacles after the Local Education Authority – Ceredigion County Council – won a Big Lottery Fund grant.
Playforce, the UK’s premier provider of playground equipment, won the contract to install the activity zones at eight Ceredigion primary schools using the grant. The pupils and staff at Aberporth are delighted with the results.
“We are all so pleased,” said Dafydd Jones, head teacher of the school. “It’s totally changed the way the children use their playtime. We have been concentrating on raising levels of fitness and this equipment is a huge help,” he explained. Playforce, a Wiltshire-based company, prides itself on the ability to design play areas that stimulate children’s imaginations at the same time as stretching their bodies. The children create their own games and magical worlds using the Playforce obstacles as props and scenery.
The playground make-over at Aberporth school includes: a pirate ship, slide, road markings, a covered area with tables and stools, and a timber trail assault course made up of bridges, balancing beams, a rope swing, rope traverse and stepping posts.
The equipment has proved so popular that when staff decided to print a calendar using photographs of each class, four of the 12 classes chose to be pictured playing on the Playforce installation.
“The whole school is so pleased with our new playground we are hoping to save some money and add to it in the next few years,” said Mr Jones.
