Abbott Community Primary School, Manchester
When we last worked with Abbott Community Primary School in Manchester we installed a few Ball Play items for them, including one of our 5 Way Basketball Shoots and a 6 Way Witches Cauldron. The work this time was to be much more extensive, as they looked to create an isolated Ball Play area as well as utilise more of their space with trim trail and traverse wall equipment.
Previously they had two pairs of MUGA goal units installed side by side. While this allowed the children to play two games simultaneously, the lack of barriers around and in between the pitches meant that games could not be safely contained when balls would inevitably go out of bounds. To solve this, we removed the goal units and installed a new MUGA Ball Cage surfaced with Black Wetpour Rubber, and lined with Duex fencing to keep the fast-paced play safely isolated.
Along the outside edge of this on their playing field, we installed a trim trail the full length of the Ball Cage, which included:
- Stepping Stumps
- A Spring Balance Beam
- A Pole Twister
- An Incline Beam Weaver
- Hanging Tyres
- A Clatter Bridge
- A Parallel Rope
Thanks to the narrow profile of our trim trail equipment we were able to fit the trail parallel to the new pitch without compromising the space of their expansive playing field.
To the rear of the school adjacent to the new Ball Cage, the school were looking for ways to utilise the area while maintaining the open space. In order to do this, we laid playground markings for the children to play hopscotch and giant draughts. In line with this we also installed a Bean Bag Target as a low-energy ball play activity, and next to it a Free-standing Chalkboard for the children to keep score on or use simply for some artistic fun. The school also had a large tree in this area that they wanted to use as a seating area; we allowed for this by installing a short stockade fence around it for the children to sit on. Next to this we installed a Wave Traverse Wall to satisfy the little climbers on the other side of the playground.
Finally, with the use of our Timber Planters with Benches we created a quiet area for the children to play and talk in, with adequate space for outdoor lessons that could be segregated from the rest of the playground at the side of the school.
