10 May Playground Update
Exciting News!
Our playground plans are almost finalised and we are ready to share them with you…
Our newly revamped playground will include:
- Three parkour tree islands between the astro-turf pitches – each island will be planted with an established tree and will include seating, and over time, shade.
- A ‘rustic’ play camp area where children can use their imagination to create different role-play scenarios.
- A creation station area which will be zoned and will support loose part play .
- A re-invigorated walkway with planting and new seating
- A new ‘woods village’ – here a large area of tarmac will be removed, providing a more natural, shady play area. This area will be planted with trees and shrubs and will include a beautiful tree house.
Why are we developing our playground?
Play is hugely important to a child’s development. Through play, children develop their social skills and build lasting friendships, they learn to communicate and solve problems, use their imagination and experience real joy. Learning doesn’t just happen in the classroom – a huge amount of learning happens outside. Here children learn to communicate with each other, resolve conflict, find solutions to problems, develop physically and socially and most of all experience what it is like to be a child having fun outside with their friends. We want to capture the magic of being a child and develop a space which encourages children to play freely, a space which is greener and more natural, includes quiet spaces but also spaces where children can socialise and use their imagination.
What would our children like?
Our playground design team carried out some workshops with groups of children. From the workshops came the following themes:
Funding
School is able to fund most of the work but we have a shortfall of £30K. However, we know we have an amazing community who we think will support us to raise this rather large sum of money! Friends of the Winns have some great plans for fundraising, including some sponsored events and the Summer Fair. If you can contribute in any way, we would be extremely grateful – look out for Friends of the Winns updates for fundraising.
Our playground design team, Made from Scratch, will be on site on Monday morning. Please do drop in at 9.15am and they will be able to share with you some more details about the design. Have a great weekend and enjoy the sunshine!
