Main Playground Redevelopment

Our main playground has recently been redeveloped. The revamped space now includes:

• Three parkour tree islands between the astro-turf pitches – each island has been planted with an established tree and includes 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 has been zoned and supports loose part play
• A re-invigorated walkway with planting and new seating.
• A new ‘woods village’ – here a large area of tarmac has been removed, providing a more natural, shady play area. This area has been planted with trees and shrubs and includes a beautiful tree house.

Why did we develop 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.

Library Refurbishment

Over the course of the 2022-23 academic year, we worked hard to reimagine and redevelop our library space.  We are incredibly to lucky to have a library in school which is well-stocked with a range of fiction and non-fiction books.  With the help of a dedicated group of parent volunteers, and funds raised by Friends of The Winns, we have begun to transform our library space into an engaging area that the children want to be in, moving away from the previous ‘classroom feel’.  So far, we have redecorated, added comfy seating, and created a large area for whole classes to sit in to listen to stories being read by an adult.

One section of the library has been dedicated to the memory of our former pupil, Oscar Nichols, who loved spending time reading in the library, often one of his Roald Dahl titles, The BFG.  As a further tribute to him, we even have a near life-sized model BFG in ‘Oscar’s Space’.

The project is not yet finished, so watch this space for further developments!

 

Future Developments

We are very lucky at The Winns to have such a dedicated parent volunteer team, Friends of The Winns. Over recent years, FOTW have raised tens of thousands of pounds for the school, which has directly benefited our children through improvements to the learning spaces, including the library and the Early Years playground. In the coming years, we have plans to continue raising money to help improve our ‘big’ playground, by installing more shady features like trees, and also to improve our Design and Technology facilities by installing a space for the children to take part in cookery lessons. For more information about FOTW, please visit their page on the website.

Early Years Playground

We are delighted with our new Early Years playground, as are the children that have been using it over the last 10 months.  Over the Summer holidays last year, we transformed this playground into an exciting space for our children in Early Years.  Although the space will be used primarily by children in Early Years, we will also ensure children in Y1 are able to use the space at lunchtime and will also use the space to enhance the provision for children who attend tea-time club.

Water play and a lazy river, climbing adventures, green natural spaces, mud kitchens and secret nooks to hide away – we love to see the children enjoying this incredible space!

Our playground was designed and created by a company called Made From Scratch. Check them out at Made From Scratch

We would like to say a huge thank you to Friends of the Winns and to all our parents who have supported our fundraising efforts to make this project possible.  Without your contribution to the project, we wouldn’t have been able to make this happen.  It is a great example of what can be achieved when we have a great community behind us.