Bredbury Green Primary School, Stockport

A long standing customer of Pendlewood, Bredbury Green's knew what they were getting for Pendlewood! The brief was for us "to develop and add further value" to their existing playground. A variety of activity based challenges was required within a safe and secure play space. An emphasis was also placed on making sure that the play area had an appreciation of the natural environment.

As previous Pendlewood customers Bredbury had some of our products - but most were in a nature capacity: Planters, a Storyteller Bench and a Mystical Storyteller's Chair. Therefore we felt it was time to add some of our play options to Other than this Pendlewood equipment all that was on the site was a large grass field playground, which was empty open play space, concrete play area with some line markings.

During the discussion stage with Headteacher Kath Buckley and the Bredbury staff a number of ideas arose. It was decided that a Multi-Use Games Area would be of great benefit, that some sort of outdoor classroom would be beneficial. Other ideas floated included a chalkboard to give the children some creative expression and some communal seating to encourage the development social skills. With this in mind the Pendlewood team created a play space that included the following:

·         The Parthenon. This versatile amphitheatre/stage managed to tick several boxes! It is ideal as an outdoor classroom, comes complete with a double chalkboard and a stage which is perfect for performing arts. In addition the theatre style set-up of the seating gave a real communal feel to the area.

·         We also added a MUGA complete with Metal Fencing. This gives the school a great area for sporting and physical education and activity to take place and the fencing added a structure and boundary to the area. The MUGA will give the children the chance to develop team building skills too.

·         An Action Trim Trail was also installed. This tests the children on skills such as balance and problem solving within a physical context.

·         A Hexagonal Tree Seat was added to the grounds. This is because it added a shaded seating area, encourages a sense of community and also offers a great chance for children to get in touch with nature first hand. It will add colour and also attract wildlife to the school grounds.

The play area was such a success that just a couple of months later Bredbury commissioned the Pendlewood Express - which is a sensational member of our Adventure range. This gave the school an epic play and climb product that challenged children of all ages physically and mentally. Such was the anticipation and excitement of this project that it was formally opened in a grand opening ceremony attended by all at the school!

Mrs. Buckley was delighted with the end result. She said: "The design and quality of the play equipment surpassed all expectation. The play area comes in perfect harmony with our existing Pendlewood equipment and adds elements of exploration and challenging activities to stimulate our pupils.

"The Express is the icing on the cake. It has brought so much fun and enjoyment to both pupils and the staff. From the initial discussions right through to the launch event this was a project I was so excited our school was part of."

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