From School Council Meetings to Bespoke Products, we reveal what sets us apart from the rest....
Our friendly and well-informed approach has seen us build long-lasting relationships with schools across the country. We approach every project with the same abundance of energy and enthusiasm which is one of the main reasons the majority of our work comes from existing customers and referrals.
The friendly team at Pentagon understand that schools need someone they can trust and will always be on hand to offer advice or answer any question during the process. Our love for the job and ambition to help every school develop incredible outdoor environments, make us a great team to collaborate with… you only have to read our Testimonials to see we put smiles on teacher’s faces.
A great example of this, is our relationship with West Town Lane Academy who James has worked with closely on a number of playground projects…
Jeremy, West Town Lane Academy:
“I needed someone I could trust. In the past we have been let down by other companies with pieces of equipment. We have had to call back a number of times to resolve these issues. For us it came down to trust”.
“James gets on very well with the school and everybody knows him here, he knows what the school is like, he knows what I am like and he knows what I am trying to achieve for the children and that is brilliant”
“The project was never just dumped on us, there was advice, support, aftercare and interest”
Our approach and communication sets us apart from the rest
Our play consultants love meeting schools to try and make their playground dreams turn into reality. In order to truly exceed your playground aspirations, our consultants will work closely with members of your school to share ideas and provide clarity. By using their experience and expertise, they will be able to evaluate the best possible options from the budget available.
Jeremy said:
“James is very good, if ever there has been anything, even something small. I know I can get straight on the phone to him and there will be no need to stamp my foot down. I know it will be fine and it will get resolved“
“James has worked with us for a few years now, but I would say that it is not just James that has been communicating with us. Andy and the installation guys have also been a great help and are always on hand whenever we need to clarify things”.
We let the children decide during school council meetings... Here's how the children of West Town Lane Academy created their very own 'Ninja Warrior' Adventure Playground!
We regularly attend School Council Meetings to gather opinions and ideas from members of the school and from the most important people… the children themselves.
Allowing children to be at the centre of the decision making process will give them a sense of leadership and the outcome will see them respect and enjoy their new outdoor area even more.
We offer this opportunity to all of our schools as we want the school’s ‘Pupil Voice’ to be heard and input to positively affect the finished outcome. We are more than happy to create a meeting or lesson that will involve the children and get them thinking and learning about their future playground.
As an additional extra, children will naturally develop skills such as speaking, creative thinking and turn-taking. You can even include mathematical concepts by giving the children the budget and then allowing them to pick the products priced within that budget… we have £10,000, if this product is £3,500, how much have we got left?
Here’s what took place during our Schools Council meeting at West Town Lane Academy…
One child stated:
“You could put the year group on each piece of equipment so that we know who can play on them”
This very clever idea from one of the children, helped us create a unique Playbond flooring design for the project. The idea was that we would be splitting the pathway below the equipment into two sections, to highlight and differentiate between KS1 and KS2 targeted challenges.
As West Town Lane’s entire playground is free flow for all ages, this surfacing will help inform teaching staff of the age targeted challenges the children will face. Providing three clear separate coloured zones, will help children to match their own physical ability to that of the coloured zone.
The children then expressed what they didn’t like about their current trail…
“I don’t like the trail because it is not fun yet” – Honey
“If you make it better more people will play on it” - Poppy
We worked alongside the children at West Town Lane to decide what Trim Trail resources they would like to see added to their ‘Adventure Playground’. Lots of fantastic ideas were thrown into the mix and children used our brochure to pick the products they found most exciting.
After a fruitful discussion, we decided to give the trail a ‘Ninja Warrior’ theme
The children chose the following products to create their Ninja Warrior Adventure Playground:
- Wave Rider
- Walk and Stretch
- Tightrope Bridge
- Inclined Balance Beam
- Climbing Poles
- Double Sided Timber Climbing Wall
- Trapeze Swing Traverse with Step Up Logs
- Monkey Bars
- Giant Spider Web
- Rocking Log Traverse
- Parallel Bars
- Pull Up Bars
- Bespoke Playbond
Time to bring the children's ideas to life
After the great school meeting, we can now bring their Ninja Warrior Playground to life through the great work of our talented design team
Here is West Town Lane’s new Adventure Playground which was designed by Todd Jefferies.
You can view the entire in –depth presentation by clicking the image:
Our designs are then presented to schools via a visual presentation (example above) and show exactly how their future playground will look like through 3D visuals.
Looking for something unique to transform your outdoor learning environment?
We recognise that every school has their own unique vision of what their perfect outdoor learning environment would look like. With this in mind, we’re happy to tweak our current product offering or even make a new one from scratch to cater for your bespoke customer needs.
Our craftsmen and installers have over 15 years’ experience... so anything really is possible.
For example, at West Town Lane Academy, all of Jeremy’s requests were unique and not from our product offering. As always at Pentagon, anything is possible and we were able to innovatively create exactly what West Town Lane Academy wanted.
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Jeremey was really interested in the idea of an outdoor bridge that would link their primary school building to another offsite training building. As this was not something that was a part of our product range, it was much harder for a quick solution to arise. We were very keen to bring this idea to life, so by working alongside the school, we managed to create their very own outdoor pedestrian bridge that was bespoke made to fit their two sites… Overall it was a great success!
Jeremy added:
“You built our bespoke bridge for us. I didn’t quite know how that was going to look, but now it is brilliant and has created a fantastic focal point”
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“I am very pleased with the reliability and quality of Pentagon, these are the main factors for me. As I said the cost is important but it is not the main driver. I just know that we are getting good quality playground equipment that you know you can trust.”
“The children will love it and it will last for donkey’s years without the worry about something breaking or going wrong. Long may it continue!”
We take great pride in our after sales service thanks to our passion for outdoor learning
Jeremy of West Town Lane Academy:
“Quality is one. But it’s the extra bit, it isn’t just a case of you just coming along, building something and when we come back after the holidays that’s it. With the pond within the Wildlife Area, James came in, he brought some fish in and took a group of children down there to talk them through the features”
When James returned to the school with the fish for their Wildlife Area, he held a mini outdoor lesson which covered topics such as the importance of Ph levels.
The best part of our job, is seeing how much the children enjoy their new playground and seeing how they interact with the different equipment on display. This also helps us maintain a good strong relationship with every school that we work with as we truly care about the work that we do.
West Town Lane Academy and their upcoming Adventure Playground, is only one great example of our excellent working relationship with schools and our approach to projects.
We have been working with West Town Lane Academy for 3 years now, completing over 6 different installations. Our first install back in 2014, was our Wildlife Area, to help connect children with nature and get them more involved with science based activities.
Read more about the Wildlife Area at West Town Lane Academy here…
Now thank to the input from their children, we plan to install their very own ‘Ninja Warrior’ Adventure Playground. We are very excited to add this to their already fantastic and evolving outdoor environment and look forward to providing an area that will become a future hub for physical development.
We show the same amount of care for every school that we work with and have created our own Process which we follow on every project.
If you are considering developing your outdoor learning environment and need a company you can collaborate with and trust, please do not hesitate to Contact Us through the website to discuss ideas and potentially begin your own great journey with us. You can also call us on the chosen number - 01625 890 330 (North Office) or 0117 379 0899 (Southern Office). Perhaps even your children have a great idea to share?
