The Customer
Based in Greater Manchester , the amazing Our Lady of Mount Carmel RC Primary School helps students around the Ashton-under-Lyne area receive a fantastic education whilst providing numerous opportunities for personal growth. Helen Hayes, the headteacher, and the amazing staff who work at Our Lady of Mount Carmel school constantly strive to provide the best school life possible for their pupils.
Having over 220 students attending the school, Our Lady of Mount Carmel school has earned a fantastic reputation for being one of the best catholic schools within Greater Manchester. Children are not only receiving a great education, but the school constantly aims to help build children up with vital skills and behaviours for their futures.
One of the key aims the school has worked on is "our mission is to enjoy, excel and grow in God’s family". Over the recent years, the school has upgraded it's resources to accommodate this vital aim and recently, they have started to explore the idea of outdoor classrooms.
Meeting The Customer
Helen, a staff member of Our Lady of Mount Carmel school, first reached out to us early this year to discuss the current project. She explained that she came across our website when she was searching for outdoor classrooms and was incredibly impressed by the quality of our products.
After reading through our glowing 5-star reviews, Helen was more than happier to enquire with Pentagon Play regarding our amazing outdoor classrooms range. Throughout the months, we maintained communication by explaining every aspect of our outdoor classrooms and how they can benefit the school.
After the school had enough information, Helen confirmed the order was excited to bring Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic school into the Pentagon Family. Tom Hollingworth, an Outdoor Learning Consultant at Pentagon Play, was assigned to the case and was eager to work with Helen to bring her ideas to life.
Their Objectives
During the meeting with Tom, Helen explained how the school wanted a new outdoor classroom being built on their school playground. It was important that the outdoor structure was built with this in mind as the school needed learning supplies being installed with it (chalkboards, benches etc.).
Due to the position of the outdoor classroom, Helen wanted the materials to be extremely durable and long lasting. The football court was not too far away from the proposed space for the outdoor classroom, which meant that windows and other features would have to be strong enough to cope with the odd runaway ball!
Finally, the school wanted the structure to be weather-resistant as they wanted the children to experience outdoor learning without the restriction of the British weather. After Tom had gathered all of the requirements and necessary information, he headed back to the office so that the hard work could begin.
Our Approach
Having over 25 years worth of experience within the playground equipment industry, Pentagon Play have solidified themselves as experts within the market. Over 15,000 unique locations have been improved and made more engaging by the amazing work of the Pentagon Play team.
The key to this success? Pentagon Play have mastered the art of creating a customer journey like no other in the industry. Every client is seen as a part of the Pentagon Play family and we want to provide the best service possible so that you'll always use us. From our friendly Outdoor Learning Consultants to our imaginative products team, you'll always have a stress-free experience with us.
Surfacing and Positioning
Our first focus was to understand how we could protect the canopy from stray balls from the sports court and help the canopy maintain it's fantastic life span. Speaking to Helen, it was agreed that we would reposition the outdoor classroom to avoid any breakages occurring in the roof or windows.
Secondly, the school decided that the surfacing the canopy was to be installed on was too hard (tarmac) and didn't add to the amazing look of the outdoor classroom. Knowing this, we recommended one of our most popular surfacing types for outdoor classrooms and structures.
Pentagon Play's Playturf is renowned for it's ability to bring life and colour to any playground it's installed on and how it can easily be applied on top of almost any surface. The school were amazed by the versatility of this product and were keen to have it installed on the tarmac.
Not only does Playturf look great, but it's also produced with the finest materials on the market. Due to this, Playturf boasts and incredibly level of durability and a low level of required maintenance.
Outdoor Classroom
Constructed from high pressure treated, tanalised timber, twin-wall polycarbonate and aluminium, Pentagon Play's timber canopies are built to withstand the extreme UK weather and provide a long life span without the need of repairs or replacements.
Attached the this fantastic freestanding outdoor classroom, a beautiful wooden double door provides a great level of security and helps create a more enclosed learning environment. Our Lady of Mount Carmel loved the idea of having double doors as they wanted to store some learning resources within the structure for outdoor lessons, saving time transporting the resources throughout the day.
All of our freestanding timber canopies are built with our innovative rainwater system on the roof, meaning that not even the rain can put a damper on outdoor lessons. The system also provides another reason as to why our outdoor canopies last for so long.
Our bespoke designs not only allow your school to create their dream outdoor classrooms, but we also take the time to make sure the bespoke designs meet your school's building regulations. Our Lady of Mount Carmel were impressed with this service as their freestanding canopy had a lot of bespoke features and they weren't sure how to abide by their building regulations.
Equipment Built Into The Outdoor Classroom
As mentioned, one of the key factors of the outdoor classroom was that it provided a variety of built-in learning resources and equipment, helping whichever teacher delivering the lesson to just focus on creating the lesson.
Listening to this, the school and Pentagon Play decided to incorporate the following features into this innovative outdoor classroom:
- 5 Integrated Benches
- 2 External Benches
- 1 Gable End Canopy Chalkboard
- 1 Giant Whiteboard
By having all of this equipment built into the design of the freestanding timber canopy, Our Lady of Mount Carmel didn't have to worry about transporting learning equipment from the main building and could focus on providing the fantastic lessons they are renowned for.
Most modern outdoor classrooms use this approach as it makes outdoor learning experiences a lot more positive for the teacher and the students. The equipment provides great opportunities for children to be exposed to outdoor spaces whilst being in a classroom environment.
All of our equipment is built with the highest-quality materials on the market, meaning that these built-in features will last for years to come. They can withstand heavy usage without showing any signs of major wear and tear.
The Results
Once a few months had passed, Our Lady of Mount Carmel invited us back to the school so we could view the finished outdoor classroom and see the impact it's had on the children. As soon as we laid our eyes on it, we saw a class of children laughing and engaging with a great lesson inside the brilliant structure.
Meeting up with Helen, she explained how the children love the new outdoor classroom and are always eager when a teacher presents them with an opportunity to learn outdoors. From this, they've noticed that the children seem a lot more relaxed and their academic abilities are improving over time.
Not only that, but the teachers have great things to say about our work. The staff love how accessible the outdoor classroom is and how it provides everything they need in one space. Since the introduction of the freestanding canopy, they've all been desperate to incorporate the outdoor classroom on a weekly basis.
From the bottom of our hearts, we hope that Our Lady of Mount Carmel school continues to love their new outdoor classroom. We're sure that stakeholders of the school will be impressed with the canopy and that the children will continue to grow up into fantastic people!
