A Stimulating Outdoor Play And Learning Environment For KS1 and KS2
Anna Wheaver, Principle, and Lesley Moore, Bursar, at Kutton St Mary’s C of E Academy contacted us as they had numerous projects in mind to enhance their outdoor learning and play environment.
Working closely with Anna and Lesley, our playground consultant, Ian Wood, worked hard to bring the projects to life and install a variety of different outdoor play areas for the school’s children to benefit from.
We installed four fantastic outdoor play and learning zones for the children that provide exciting, engaging activities for the children in KS1 and KS2 to participate in during playtimes and lunchtimes.
MUGA
One of the main objectives of the school’s outdoor playground development was to enhance the sporting provision and present the children with a dedicated space for sports, while ensuring a wide range of healthy sports could be practised.
The staff no longer wanted to inform that children that they couldn’t participate in PE outdoors due to the weather, so we installed a magnificent, all-weather MUGA Pitch!
Featuring our Multi Sport Artificial Grass with a halfway line, recessed goal ends and sport fencing, the new area is perfect a wide range of activities!
Our sport fencing is fantastic for enhancing supervision and enabling spectators to easily view the game taking place. Along with this, we also created a lovely entrance in the fencing, which has been surfaced with the word ‘Respect’ in a light pink Saferturf surfacing.
When children enter the sporting space, they are reminded of the schools ethos to respect one another and demonstrate good sportsmanship.
Through the installation of a Multi Use Games Area, participation in sports has been enhanced, while the children are also able to develop their fundamental movement skills, sporting skills, cardiovascular fitness and keep physical skills.
Additionally, children can be taught what it takes to lead a healthy lifestyle as they improve their physical fitness.
Daily Mile Track
The Daily Mile is a healthy initiative that sees primary school children participating in fifteen minutes of running, jogging or walking each day, which has been proven to improve children’s physical fitness.
Knutton St Mary’s C of E Academy wanted a space where the children could participate in the initiative. As a result, we installed an exciting Daily Mile Track made up of artificial grass playground surfacing on the schools field that leads onto thermoplastic playground markings on the tarmac space.
However, the track isn’t just a standard outline. It has been created with fun fitness trail challenges to create an exciting space for the children to exercise in every day! We even included a sensory arbour as a tunnel for the children to run through.
These wonderful challenges and sensory arbour are utilised at playtime, too, as the children challenge one another to races around the track – can they beat Usain Bolt’s time?
Outdoor Performance Stage
The Half Hex Stage with Roof provides the children at Knutton St Mary with a space to feel free, enhance their communication, language and social skills as well as enable engaging activities that target the expressive arts area of the curriculum outdoors.
Offering the children a platform to perform along with an ideal social setting for children to discuss, talk and socialise, the excellently designed timber structure has created an exciting dimension in the school playground.
Making up their own plays, games, songs and dances has created a social environment for the children to collaborate and perform as they enhance their self-confidence.
As an open-ended product, the outdoor performance stage can be used for a number of different activities as a piece of literacy is read aloud or acted out on the stage to improve children’s spoken word and further engage children in learning.
Surrounded by Perch Benches, the performers audience have a comfortable space to sit and watch the enchanting show taking place!
Trim Trail
To extend physical play activities and test and improve children’s key physical skills, we installed our age appropriate Junior Trim Trail 3.
Made up of various obstacles, arranged in such a way to become progressively harder, the children have an excellent outdoor adventure to challenge their more advanced physical development skills.
As children swing, climb and traverse across the equipment, they are improving their balance, lower and upper body strength, hand strength, core stability, coordination and gross motor skills through play.
Ian loved seeing the children take on the physical challenge as a team and use it as a focal point for their games. A favourite between the children is a classic – ‘the floor is lava’.
They challenge one another to cross the lengthy trail without touching the floor. If they do, they’re out and must start again: determined to make it the next time!
Bringing each outdoor project to life that Knutton St Mary’s had in mind, Ian loved how the spaces have turned out - improving the children’s educational play experience!
If you have a project in mind or an objective you need to meet, please Contact Us for a free, no-obligation quotation from one of our passionate playground consultants who can help bring your outdoor idea to life.
