The Customer
Based in Nottinghamshire, Gilthill Primary School offers students from Kimberley and surrounding areas a fantastic learning environment to grow and thrive in. Ran by the fantastic Mrs Allison (the headteacher) and the school's talented staff, Gilthill Primary School is constantly seeking ways to improve the school and offer their students the best academic experience possible.
With over 210 pupils attending this primary school, this school has garnered the reputation of being a fantastic primary school for children to attend by parents and carers alike. Not only do the children receive fascinating and engaging lessons, but the school has been crafted to provide children a stimulating, enjoyable and caring environment to develop in.
As the school's vision is "aim to inspire today's children to embrace tomorrow's challenges', Gilthill Primary School are always looking for new and exciting opportunities to help it's pupils grow whilst maintaining an exciting and engaging environment. From this desire, the school started to look at how they could improve their outdoor space.
Meeting The Customer
We've had the pleasure of working with Gilthill Primary School for multiple years, helping them with a couple of exciting projects surrounding the improvement of their outdoor space. Gilthill first came across us when they were looking online for reputable and trustworthy playground specialists, which led them to enquiring with us.
Throughout the years, we've worked closely with the school to design and install a couple of canopies in the outdoor areas. From these installations, the school was highly impressed by the quality of the product and the professionalism and personable approach our Pentagon Play family offer our customers.
Emma, the school business manager, reached out to us to discuss a potential third canopy canopy being installed. Our Outdoor Learning Consultant, Jordan Dale, spoke with Emma for a while, showcasing the endless amount of options that we could provide. Impressed by the friendliness and expertise demonstrated from Jordan and amazed by the catalogue and bespoke nature of our canopy service, the school were more than happier to begin working with us on the project.
Their Objectives
It was decided by the school that a new outdoor canopy was needed to provide a new location for outdoor lessons that was close enough to the main building, helping the school achieve their aim of providing exciting and engaging lessons.
From the bespoke nature of this product, the school wanted a 28x5m sized canopy to provide plenty of space for all the children to learn outdoors comfortably. Alongside this, the canopy would also act as a shelter for any freestanding playground equipment and protect it from environmental damage.
Finally, they wanted to canopy to look natural and suit the surrounding trees and bushes near the playground, helping children escape into the outdoors. Once we had all of the needed information, our amazing team got to work to maintain the school's admiration for our canopies.
Our Approach
Helping transform over 15,000 unique areas across the UK, Pentagon Play have collected a huge amount of glowing 5-star reviews and fantastic testimonials. Whether it's praised for the quality of our products or the streamlined customer journey we have created, it's safe to say that Pentagon Play have become one of the most trusted playground experts in the UK.
Unlike most other companies who operate within our industry, we want to provide our customers with a truly unique experience. We don't just aim to deliver a great product, but we aim to foster a special relationship between our company and your organisation. From providing aftercare support to working closely with our design team to bring your ideas to life, Pentagon Play want to offer you the best service we can.
Bespoke School Canopy
Constructed from high pressure treated, tanalised timber, twin-wall polycarbonate and aluminium, Pentagon Play's canopies are built to withstand the extreme UK weather and provide a long life span without the need of repairs or replacements.
The design of the canopy is specific, meeting the building regulations exactly and offering excavated and concreted post foundations. Gilthill Primary School loved how we covered all areas of the installation and allowed their staff to focus on other priorities. Most other companies will expect the school to carry out these tasks but at Pentagon Play, we aim to cover all bases.
The structurally-graded timber provides peace of mind to the organisation having the canopy installed, knowing that the canopy will withstand heavy usage without showing any signs of degradation for years to come. Gilthill Primary had a huge focus on the safety aspect of the canopy and were relieved to hear that our product offers a fantastic level of safety that not many other canopies can provide.
Having a rainwater system installed on the canopy allowed the structure to withstand heavy rain without collecting huge puddles on the roof, avoiding any potential damage to occur to the roof. The school were also happy with how the roof had a translucent opal finish, allowing the canopy to provide shade whilst children could clearly see the weather and the skies above them.
Finally, we know how children love to explore the world with their senses and how they would most likely touch the support beams of the canopy. From this expectation, our canopy beams are planed and chamferred to provide a smooth finish to the wood, avoiding potential minor injuries. Gilthill loved the attention to detail and were thankful that we eliminated the chance of nasty splinters occurring!
The Results
After a couple of months had passed, Gilthill Primary School were kind enough to invite us back to the location to view to finished bespoke canopy and see how well it's withstood the children. Instantly, we saw how the canopy was providing a brilliant shaded spot for lessons to be given in the outdoors.
After viewing every aspect of the canopy, we knew that we had done a fantastic job as all the different factors were working perfectly. Speaking to Emma, she was blown away by the quality of the canopy and how well it withstood the recent storm.
She also mentioned how impressed the teachers and pupils were with the canopy, explaining how more outdoor lessons were being taught and how the pupils seemed more engaged and enticed by the new learning environment.
We hope Gilthill Primary School continue to enjoy the new canopy that we installed on their playground and to carry on providing the children of Kimberley, and it's surrounding areas, with the fantastic academic experience that they are renowned for!
