A New Playground For New School Wellington Place Primary!

The Customer

Within the beautiful market town of Market Harborough, Wellington Place Primary School can be found delivering a nurturing and caring learning environment for the children in the local area. From it's in-depth early years foundation curriculum to it's focus on establishing British Values within it's children, this new school has definitely made an impact on local stakeholders.

Led by the wonderful Mrs Knox, Headteacher at Wellington Place, and operated by her talented team of staff, this newly established free school (which is operated by Discovery Schools Academies Trust Ltd) is always striving to make itself a school like no other.

Before the school opened on the 27th August, the staff thought about what facilities needed to be focused on to ensure that the children had an exciting and engaging learning environment. After a few days, the school decided that the playground needed to be a big focus before the school opened to the public. With everyone in agreeance, the school got to work.

Meeting The Customer

Mrs Cressida Knox decided to start the search by looking online to find a suitable playground design company that could help the school. After searching around for a few minutes, she came across Pentagon Play and our impressive gallery of playground installations. Seeing the numerous 5 star reviews on our Google My Business Profile, she decided to visit the website for further investigation.

Instantly, Cressida was blown away by the variety of ranges offered by Pentagon Play. From the active play range to the imaginative play equipment, Mrs Knox felt that Pentagon Play offered every piece of play equipment a primary school could need, all in one handy place.

Scrolling through our unique and innovative ranges, Mrs Knox felt herself becoming inspired with a variety of different ideas of what the school could do with the old space. However, she decided that she wanted to talk to an expert and learn what makes the perfect playground.

Receiving an enquiry, our friendly sales team got straight to work with helping Cressida get what she needed. Reading the message, the team decided to put one of our expert Playground Consultants (Daniel Young) on the case.

Quickly building a rapport with Cressida, Daniel was always on hand to provide any help or information he could to help the school decide on their design. Being told the budget that Wellington Place had been given, Daniel went above and beyond in trying to build the perfect playground with the funds.

Wanting to create a more bespoke plan, Daniel offered a free on-site visit and consultation to Mrs Knox, who gratefully accepted.

Their Objectives

Whilst Daniel was visiting Wellington Place Primary, Cressida explained how the school wanted to make a fantastic first impression on it's children by creating an early years play area with a variety of exciting and unique play equipment.

Alongside the play equipment, the school also thought that having new safety surfacing installed on the playground would make a huge impact on the atmosphere, making it more vibrant and energetic. Not only would these surfacing options help the playground stand out more, but it would also help to keep the play area a safe space for risk play.

As the meeting was coming to a close, Mrs Knox told Daniel how the school was keen to make the playground stand out and offer a variety of opportunities for play. Through this, the staff hoped that children would involve themselves more during playtime and burn a lot of their energy.

Our Approach

Having everything that he needed, Daniel quickly made his way back to our office in Middlewich and started working closely with the relevant departments to bring this project to life. No matter how far through the process she was, Cressida received regular updates on the progress of the project, providing full transparency for the school.

Most of our competitors would stop here, believing that communication is all they need. However, Pentagon Play have earned a reputation of going above and beyond and making your customer journey truly unforgettable. Our industry-defining visualisation team will create a variety of stunning 3D graphics and images of your playground design, allowing you and your colleagues to see how the area will look after the transformation.

These graphics are vital for schools like Wellington Place Primary, as the visualisations were used to present the plans of the proposed project to the CFO of the Discovery Schools Academies Trust to have it approved. Impressed by the quality of the documents, the CFO had high confidence that our company were the best suited for the job.

While Mrs. Knox had Dan on hand to provide top-notch support, our talented manufacturing team was busy behind the scenes, tracking down the best materials out there. With meticulous quality checks and cutting-edge production techniques, it’s no surprise that our playground equipment really stands out from the crowd!

As one of the UK’s top playground specialists—proudly transforming over 15,000 spaces—we offer a huge range of services to suit your needs. Whether it’s RPII-accredited playground inspections or kitting out your classroom with indoor furniture, we’re here to help every step of the way. Our goal is simple: to bring your dream play space to life for your school and local community!

Playground Safety Surfacing

Before the main project could begin, the team first had to install the new safety surfacing in both of the areas. As the school wanted to create a more vibrant and safe play area, they decided to select two of our most popular surfacing options: Wetpour and Playturf Artificial Grass.

After talking through the design, the school loved the idea of having a wetpour road-like design featured on the playground, with an artificial grass section in the middle (where all of the active play equipment would be installed). Knowing this, our team got to work on installing the wetpour first.

Crafted from high-quality rubber granules, Pentagon's wetpour surfacing is a fantastic surface for any early years setting. Able to withstand heavy foot traffic and poor weather conditions, this surfacing is able to maintain it's vibrant colours without showing any signs of wear and tear for years to come.

Available in a variety of colours and shapes, wetpour can easily be made to fit any design, making it a highly bespoke option. As mentioned, Wellington Place Primary decided to create a road design, allowing children to engage in role play whilst riding their tricycles around the play area.

To contrast the wetpour, our team got to work on installing our Playturf Artificial Grass. Made from quality materials and woven to high standards, our artificial grass is made to be durable and long lasting, even passing FIFA's rigorous durability tests!

Not only does the artificial grass last for years, but it also looks fantastic and requires little to no maintenance. Schools like Wellington Place Primary can worry less about the stress of constantly maintaining their natural turf and focus on more pressing matters, allowing the school to save valuable time and money.

Both of these surfaces are fantastic for impact absorption, helping to massively reduce the chance of a serious injury occurring on the spaces they occupy. Considering the area is for early years children, high impact absorbing surfaces are the perfect addition for the little ones to keep them safe.

Once both surfaces were installed, the staff were blown away by the impact the new surfaces had on the environment! With vibrant colours, different textures and great impact absorbing qualities, Mrs Knox and her team were sure that the space would be a hit with the kids.

Mam Tor Mountain Climber

Wanting to include a piece of play equipment that would instantly attract the attention of their children, the school were excited to have one of our most unique and engaging pieces of play equipment installed on their new artificial grass surfacing: The Mam Tor Mountain Climber.

Perfect for early years children, this low fall height climbing frame is an excellent resource for not only building children's climbing confidence, but also for promoting physical development. From motor skills to muscle strength, this piece of play equipment will definitely help to transform your children's physical abilities.

It doesn't stop there though, as this piece of playground equipment can also be used for other forms of play. As children navigate through the bottom of the structure, they can use the equipment to take part in other activities like den-making, reading and relaxation. The Mam Tor Mountain Climber really is a versatile piece of play equipment.

Like all of our playground equipment, Pentagon Play only uses the highest quality materials to craft our equipment. Our climbing frames are crafted from high pressure treated 'play grade' timber and steel reinforced ropes, allowing your equipment to last for generations to come.

Freestanding Play Equipment

To finish off the project, the school wanted to incorporate different pieces of playground equipment around the area, creating different opportunities for beneficial play. With such an expansive range of products, the school required Daniel's expert guidance and expertise to decide which pieces of play equipment would work the best.

After plenty of discussions, Mrs Knox and her team felt confident that they had picked a variety of playground equipment that offered different forms of play, whilst maintaining their strict budget. From our ranges, the school decided to settle on:

Not only does this list include some of our most innovative, durable and popular pieces of play equipment, but each item in this list is also listed as freestanding. No longer does playground equipment have to be permanently installed in your play space, as freestanding equipment can easily be moved and placed anywhere within a space.

For schools like Wellington Place that want to create a free-flowing play space, freestanding play equipment can assist in the creation by allowing staff members to easily arrange the play equipment to their desired design. Want to make space? Simply pick up the equipment and relocate it to a storage area. Freestanding allows play spaces to remain fluid and open, making them vital for early years settings that want an outdoor space to remain adaptable.

In addition, freestanding equipment is a fantastic option for schools who are working within a strict budget and want to make the most of their money. As freestanding equipment requires no installation charges or ground works, freestanding is a great cost-effective solution for playgrounds across the UK!

Laying their eyes on the new play area for the first time, Mrs Knox and the other staff were blown away by the difference! Having so much freestanding play equipment present in the area made the school feel confident that every child would find an activity to take part in.

The Results

Once a few weeks had passed and the school had opened, Daniel reached out to Mrs Knox and asked if there was any chance Pentagon Play could send a small team to Wellington Place Primary to get some pictures and learn about the impact the new playground had on the children. Getting the go ahead, a small team of Pentagonians made their way to Market Harborough.

As we arrived, our team was greeted by the wonderful Mrs Knox and her fantastic team of staff. Throughout our time at the school, the Wellington Place Primary team remained friendly and accommodating, making our team feel right at home.

Heading towards the playground, Mrs Knox told us how many compliments the new playground had got from parents and carers. Not only did they think the play space looked fantastic, but they were impressed by the different forms of play offered on the playground, making it a space for all abilities of children.

Taking our first steps on the playground, we were over the moon to see some children playing on the equipment. Whether it was a small group of adventurers tackling the Mam Tor Climbing Frame or some of the little ones playing in the Sand Pit, having the playground dispersed allowed the space to remain open and feel more free flowing.

Speaking to the teachers, they told us how much they loved the freestanding equipment, as it allowed them to take lessons outdoors into the playground and create scenarios that matched their lesson plans. Having the opportunity for outdoor learning is priceless, and the teachers were noticing the benefits that come from it.

The surfacing was also a big hit, with some children taking their tricycles outdoors and riding on the wetpour roads. Staff told us how the wetpour road had become a play feature, as plenty of children found themselves escaping into role play scenarios and building their understanding of the world around them.

Overall, it's safe to say that the project was a huge success, with both children and adults happy with the final result. We wish the absolute best for Wellington Place Primary School and that the children continue to enjoy their playground for years!