The Willows Primary School, Stoke-on-Trent

We were contacted by the Willows Primary School in Stoke to cast our creative eyes over their courtyard playground, which had begun to look a little tired and was in need of a new lease of life.  We worked with the staff to design several areas that would encourage various different elements of play.

The area already had some surfacing installed, but in the middle of a large blue patch of wetpour for example was a metal bench that dominated the area.  To further focus the area we removed the bench and installed in its place a Triple Splish Splash Water Trough, adding a water play element to the playground with enough room for lots of children to get involved in the fun.

While the school made use of wheeled toys they didn’t have a specific area to use them in.  As such, we designed a bespoke artificial grass roadway, complete with a zebra crossing and a traffic lights sign.  We opted for artificial grass in order to further diversify the general aesthetic of the area.

With these pieces in place, the playground was still missing something.  A wow-factor was required; something unique that would encompass several areas of play all in one piece of equipment.  Having looked through our product range, the staff liked both our Observation Den and our Wildwood Play Tower range, but only had the budget and the space for one unit.  So we put our heads together and came up with a unit that would accommodate for all of their needs, blending and Observation Tower and a play tower that was loaded with features including; a fireman’s pole; a slide; step ladders; a climb grip ramp; port hole windows; a bridge; and a custom engraved HDPE panel depicting a willow tree.

We finished this area off with green wetpour surrounding it, thus defining a third area of play, and completing the Willows Primary School multi-faceted playground.