Parkroyal Community School, Macclesfield
Parkroyal Community School in Macclesfield got in touch with us to cast our eye over their two brand new playgrounds. It’s always nice to have the opportunity to work with a blank canvas, and after meeting with their project manager, their staff and headteacher, we set about designing their new space from the ground up based on the budget we’d been allotted.
The Early Years area required the most work, given the wide variety of different themes and activities we needed to cover with it. The school wanted the main feature of this area to be a custom natural-coloured play tower that incorporated drape posts for den building, adding some roleplaying fun to area. Given the wish for the natural look, we made them a bespoke Wildwood tower, surrounded with green wetpour rubber for safety. Running around the outside of the rubber we then placed Trackway line markings for the kids to ride around on their trikes.
While the tower offered climbing elements, in a separate area the school wanted to concentrate on balance and co-ordination. With this in mind we provided a trim trail course of stepping stumps and balance beams on top of a wood-chip area. This then lent itself to a quiet/storytelling area that we incorporated, giving the stumps and beams a dual purpose as seating with a Storytelling Chair fitted into the corner of the area.
On the other side of the playground we installed a Chalkboard and Stage for the children to use for educational, artistic and role playing activities, and next to it we built a Toy Bunker to keep props and art supplies in. Outdoor storage is an excellent way to alleviate clutter from your play space and keep your indoor teaching area free for indoor activities.
For a Sand play element we installed one of our patented Lockable Sandpits with Rolling Lids, allowing staff to open and close the sandpit with effortless ease and no manual handling. And to finish the playground off, in line with the sandpit we fitted two natural coloured Camelot tables with seats, providing a sheltered area under the pre-existing pergola for the children to partake in arts and crafts and enjoy their lunches, come rain or shine.
To create the second playground we installed timber bowtop fencing to segregate the two areas, the second of which would become the Nursery area. This was to be much simpler in design, requiring only a play tower element. To tie it in with the rest of the equipment we installed another Wildwood play tower, surrounded with wetpour safety surfacing once again, and a set of roadway line markings once again.
Upon revisiting the site the staff let us know that the children were besotted with their new playground, and it was clear that they were all making brilliant use of it all.
