A Complete Playground Transformation at Oasis Academy Limeside

The Customer

Earning the title of being one of the best primary schools in Oldham, Oasis Academy Limeside is an academy school that provides the children of the Hollinwood area with a superb education and space to develop. Ran by the amazing principal, Mrs Lauren Norris, and her fabulous team, the staff at Oasis Academy Limeside are dedicated to creating the best educational environment in the UK.

With over 450 students listed on the school roll, this school is easily one of the biggest primary schools in the Greater Manchester area. Regardless of it's size, the school and it's staff always pay special attention to each student and have a keen interest in introducing the children to the local and global community that surrounds them.

Recently, the staff at this fantastic school sat down together to discuss how the school can improve it's facilities and resources for the children. From these discussions, the school realised that they wanted to improve their playground and introduce a variety of new resources to the area. From these developments, the school hopes to encourage children to become more explorative and engaged with the outdoors.

Meeting The Customer

Lauren Norris, principal of Oasis Academy Limeside, first contacted Pentagon Play back in November 2022. Lauren was looking online for a company that could help with a redevelopment of a playground and provide all of the necessary services, which led her to discovering Pentagon Play.

After looking through our countless 5-star reviews and glowing testimonials, Lauren was interested in acquiring Pentagon Play's expertise in playground design and contacted our sales team. Throughout the conversation, Lauren felt like she was in safe hands as our friendly and approachable sales team demonstrated our 25 years of experience within the industry during conversations.

Once Lauren had reviewed our brochures and ranges, she felt happy to advance to the next stage, which involved her being assigned one of our playground consultants. Tom Hollingworth, an established playground consultant, was excited to start working with Oasis Academy and help Lauren build the perfect play area.

Their Objectives

One of the key objectives Lauren had in mind was to create a playground which encouraged active play throughout. From EYFS to KS2, the school wanted every child to have access to active playground equipment that would assist in physical development and improvements in physical skills.

Alongside this, the school also wanted to introduce new surfacing to the area. Their previous surface of tarmac was become worn down and old thermoplastic graphics were losing their effectiveness and vibrance. To counter this, the school wanted a more vibrant surfacing to be applied and for the new surface to be a lot more safer.

Another idea that the school had was to establish a forest school zone. The zone would provide children with the opportunity to explore new and exciting topics in a natural and awe-inspiring environment. As well as this, the forest school zone would also provide a safe space for SEN children to escape the loud environment of the playground and escape to a quieter area.

Finally, Lauren really wanted to promote sports amongst the students and wanted to introduce a facility that would provide all the necessary items for children to take part in an activity. Having something like this would not only keep children engaged with sports, but would also provide a valuable facility for after-school clubs and extracurricular activities.

Our Approach

With over 25 years of expertise and a track record of transforming more than 15,000 unique locations, Pentagon Play has established itself as one of the UK's premier playground equipment providers. Our ongoing success is driven by a steadfast commitment to enhancing our services for our clients.

What makes Pentagon Play unique? We have refined the customer experience to feel like joining a family. Our playground consultants will work tirelessly to show you amazing 3d visualisations of your planned playground and create engaging presentations to talk you through the entire process. Even when the installation is completed, Pentagon Play's aftercare team and playground inspections & maintenance service will always be on hand to assist in keeping your playground in great condition.

Whole School Thermoplastic Markings

Before we started to install the new and vibrant thermoplastic markings, the first essential step was to remove the old thermoplastic markings. As time marched onwards, these graphics had faded and become worn down, diminishing their visibility and effectiveness. The administration team realised that removing them was a key priority if the school wanted to promote safe and engaging play.

Once the 6 thermoplastic markings were removed, our surfacing experts could then focus on installing unique and imaginative thermoplastic markings. As the school wanted the playground to naturally promote active play, they decided to settle on the following markings:

Hop Left/Hop Right
Ring Steps
Hopscotch
Sprint
Hurdles
Bunny Hops
Hand Taps
4x Gym Station Activity Spots (Hop, Jump, Spin, Skip)
A 240m long Daily Mile with Activity Stations

Each of these markings aim to engage children by grabbing their attention through vibrant and engaging designs, helping children seamlessly transition into an active play mindset. The school loved how each marking provided a unique challenge and targeted different areas of physical health.

The school was initially cautious with the installation of the new thermoplastic markings, due to their old ones wearing down so easily. Our team reassured the school by explaining how our thermoplastic markings are made from the highest-quality materials available in the industry. After the school saw some of our previous installations and testimonials, they felt confident with the product.

EYFS Play Area

Being the biggest part of the project, the school wanted a complete development of their EYFS play area. Not only did they want new playground equipment, but they wanted new safety surfacing and mesh fencing installing around the area. Knowing the scale of this project, we were keen to dig our teeth into it and deliver the best possible result for the Oasis Academy.

Surfacing

After plenty of consultations and internal debates, the school decided to settle on two of our most popular surfacing options: Wetpour and Playturf Artificial Grass. The school felt like having a combination of these two surfacing types would help to create an engaging and lively play environment, whilst prioritising the safety of the children.

Covering a total area of 71m², Pentagon Play's Wetpour has become a firm-favourite amongst schools, nurseries and commercial settings across England, Wales and Scotland. Crafted from the highest-quality EPDM rubber granules and resin, our Wet Pour is manufactured to be extremely durable and long-lasting.

Not only does Pentagon's wetpour have an incredible lifespan, but it's also available in hundreds of unique colours. The bespoke nature of this surfacing type allows schools, like Oasis Academy Limeside, to craft the perfect environment for children to explore and play in freely.

The school decided to settle on a beige and brown colour scheme, with black roadway markings included. This design would allow children to explore exciting scenarios through imaginative play and expand their understanding of the world around them.

To cover the remaining area of 45m², our team started to install Pentagon Play's famous Playturf Artificial Grass. Perfect for schools and nurseries who are looking to create captivating and safe all-weather outdoor learning environments, Playturf has become a firm favourite surfacing choice across the nation.

Knowing how important durability is, Playturf Artificial Grass is crafted from quality materials and woven to high standards to improve it's lifespan. Due to this process, our artificial grass surfacing has passed FIFA's rigorous durability tests and has a 10-year guarantee attached to it.

Compared to natural grass, Playturf requires minimal maintenance to operate at it's best, saving Oasis Academy Limeside thousands of pounds in maintenance costs in the long term. Schools and nurseries can then dedicate these spare resources to improving and focusing on other areas.

Having both Wetpour and Playturf present on the playground, the school were amazed by the instant impact they both had on the playground's atmosphere. It felt a lot more lively and exciting, which would help with keeping the children active and engaged in play.

Mesh Fencing

Crafted from galvanised and powder coated steel, the green Mesh Fencing offered by Pentagon Play is the perfect solution for schools and commercial settings that are looking to create distinctive zones within their playground.

As the play area was for EYFS children, the school wanted to make sure that the children could be left to explore on their own, without the fear of children wondering into other areas of the playground. From this desire, the school loved how the mesh fencing has a height of 2m, making it near impossible for a child to scale and escape.

To achieve the perfect design, our team of industry-leading designers sat down with security experts and teachers to craft the perfect security fencing. Hundreds of schools have started to use our state-of-the-art fencing and have had nothing but positive feedback towards it.

The best part of our mesh fencing is how we can follow bespoke requests to help fence off certain zones. As the EYFS play area was a unique shape, the school was amazed by how complying we were with the request and were over the moon by the final result.

Freestanding Playground Equipment

The final step required to complete the EYFS playground was to introduce the new and unique freestanding playground equipment. Oasis Academy Limeside felt positive towards the idea of freestanding equipment and how it would give control to the teachers and students on how the equipment was positioned.

As the EYFS playground was quite a big space, the school believed that they needed a wide variety of unique playground equipment. From our catalogue, the school selected:

Not only does freestanding equipment provide more creative control over the playground layout, but it also allows the school to safely store away their equipment during closure, protecting them from unwanted usage and poor weather conditions.

The majority of playground equipment that the school selected can easily be integrated during lesson times to create a more engaging and exciting learning environment. Oasis Academy loved this aspect as they knew the importance of outdoor lessons and how play could be used effectively to teach children new topics.

Pinnacle Hill Climber

The last piece of play equipment to be installed on this fantastic play area was the Pinnacle Hill Climber, an amazing introductory climbing frame for children to build their climbing confidence and start preparing them for more physical challenges.

Manufactured from high pressure treated 'play grade' timber and steel reinforced ropes, the Pinnacle Hill Climber is built to withstand heavy usage and poor weather conditions. Alongside this, the climbing frame is an impressive sight and can help to improve the look of an entire playground. The school liked the idea of having a centre piece and they believed that the hill climber was the perfect fit.

As the hill climber takes up a total space of 19m², it can make a huge impact on smaller playgrounds whilst looking great on larger ones too. The equipment does require a minimum surfacing of 20mm due to it's 0.6m CFH, but as Oasis Academy had opted for artificial grass and wetpour surfacing, this made the process a lot more simple!

KS2 MUGA

A Multi Use Games Area (or MUGA for short) provides the perfect area for children to actively engage in a variety of sports and physical activities. Designed to be bespoke, Pentagon Play's MUGAs are offered in a variety of different specifications to suit any size or budget. Oasis Academy liked the bespoke aspect as they had specific requirements to meet for their MUGA.

Out of all of the surfacing options we offer, Oasis Academy decided to select one of our most premium artificial grass surfaces, 4G Artificial Grass. Produced from high quality materials and woven to a professional standard, this surface makes for a great sports pitch due to it's durability and long-lasting qualities.

Beneath the artificial grass, a state-of-the-art shockpad is installed to ensure the safety of users on the pitch. Not only does the Pentagon Play shockpad reduce the risk of serious injuries, but it also increases the bounce quality of footballs, tennis balls and other sport balls.

On top of the surface, our team can also apply line-markings to add a professional feel to your MUGA. Pentagon Play have over 25 years worth of experience in the playground industry, and we know how to make a play environment that children will love. These line markings will naturally encourage your children to partake in your chosen sports without having to resort to imaginary lines.

Surrounding the MUGA, we also installed a rigid mesh fencing system with strong rebound panels and recessed goals. All of these features are designed to stop any accidents or breakages occurring if a stray ball is booted a little too hard!

Oasis Academy Limeside were over the moon with the result and were excited to start integrating the new MUGA into their PE curriculum and playtimes.

Forest School Zone

Wanting to improve their educational facilities, Oasis Academy Limeside really wanted to introduce a forest school to their pupils. After liaising with our Outdoor Learning Consultant team, the school felt like they had a stronger understanding of how to make the perfect forest school.

After browsing through hundreds of our products, the school had selected half a dozen items that they wanted to include in this new project. The products that they selected included:

The 5m Hexagonal Gazebo would act as a nice shaded area, where children could seek shelter in blistering heat or heavy. The chalkboards would allow ideas to be communicated effectively to the class and the rest of the equipment would be used to help children engage more effectively in lesson topics.

Combining all of these high-quality pieces of playground equipment and structures together allows Oasis Academy to create the perfect environment for a forest school. In addition, the forest school would also provide a safe space for children with SEN to explore sensory play in a quieter area, assisting in making this school a fully inclusive academy.

KS2 Gym Equipment

Finally, the school wanted to dedicate a specific area for older children to start actively engaging with gym equipment and building healthy routines which could be carried on through their development To achieve this, they wanted to establish a gym area.

Known for our innovative and creative designs, Pentagon Play were proud to present our Outdoor Gym Equipment range. Each item in this range has been designed by an expert team who have undertaken years of research and testing, creating a truly effective range.

Oasis Academy loved this range and selected 5 of our best selling pieces of gym equipment to include in their new area. The pieces were:

Built from galvanised and powder coated steel, each piece of gym equipment made by Pentagon Play not only conforms with EN16630 and EN1176, but is incredibly durable and long lasting. Knowing this, the school were really impressed with the quality of the product and felt the new gym equipment would provide a safe area for children to exercise.

The Results

Once a few months had passed, Oasis Academy Limeside got back in contact with us and told us how happy they were with the final result and even invited us back to see the impact that the new playground was having on the children.

Eagerly, we accepted the offer and made our way back to the school. As soon as we entered the play area, we were amazed to see the amount of children that were now engaging in active play and engaging thoroughly with the variety of activities around the playground.

Visiting the EYFS play area, we spotted a group of children engaging in imaginative play and pretending to be drivers on the road. Alongside them, we spotted a large amount of children scattered around the play area and engaging with the new freestanding play equipment and Pinnacle Hill Climber.

Afterwards, we headed to the forest school and saw how tranquil the space looked. The Bug Hotel was housing a few different bugs and a group of children were actively playing with the sensory spinners. The gazebo looked fantastic and proved that our structures are built to last.

Finally, we made our way across the playground to the MUGA. As we walked, we kept seeing some of the new thermoplastic markings and were happy to see them looking like they were brand new. As we reached the MUGA, we saw a group of a children playing a game of football, which led us to feel like the project was a complete success.

After speaking to numerous teachers and students, it was safe to say that everyone was happy with the finished result. From teachers being able to conduct outdoor lessons to children being able to improve their gross motor skills, everyone at Oasis Academy Limeside was happy with the project.

From everybody here at Pentagon Play, we hope that Oasis Academy Limeside continues to provide children with a fantastic education and a brilliant space for play and exercise!