Projects

Brief

Speaking to the school’s principal, our design team learnt that the aim was to create an area that made a clear acknowledgement to the history of Retford. Specifically, their idea was to create an area with a large Play Boat, referencing the Mayflower Pilgrims who sailed to America, many of whom came from Retford. This boat was to be the core of the design with additional items surrounding it to ensure children of all ages and abilities were included.

Project Details

Following the instructions from the school, our design team selected the Weigh Anchor to be the main feature of the design. The Weigh Anchor is a large Play Boat made of a bow and a stern section; both of which have a variety of play features and routes of access including rope nets, steps, climbing walls, a fireman’s pole, and a slide. To ensure further inclusivity, we opted to separate the bow and stern sections out, installing wheelchair accessible, nautical themed play panels between them.

Surrounding the boat, we added a Shade Sail with seating and a Jumbo Chalkboard, a Group Swing, an Inclusive Roundabout, 3 Climbing Palm Trees, and a Playground Signpost.

The Shade Sail created an ideal zone for social interaction between children whilst also serving as an outdoor classroom due to the addition of the large Chalkboard in the centre. We also gave the school the opportunity to choose the colour of the Shade Sail fabric - with them ultimately settling on a blue that matches the school’s colour and theme.

Whilst also a source of exciting vestibular movement, the Group Swing and Inclusive Roundabout ensured that all children were suitably accommodated. The Roundabout is installed completely flush to the ground to allow wheelchair users to easily move between it and other play features in the area and the Swing has a large basket to accommodate children of all ages and abilities.

For the surfacing in the area we opted for Artificial Grass in the majority of the area using green, blue, beige, and brown to create an immersive sea theme that worked with the boat to create a fully cohesive play space. Around the roundabout we installed blue Wetpour as this is the section of the play area that will be subject to the highest wear, and we needed to ensure the surface would be hard-wearing enough to withstand this over many years of play.

The final touches of the design were the Climbing Palm Trees and the Playground Signpost. We decided to add the climbing trees to both compliment the sea theme that we had created and to add an extra play feature in spaces that would’ve otherwise been too small to accommodate any equipment. Lastly, the Playground Signpost added an opportunity for the school to give a final nod to the original idea behind the whole design: the Mayflower Pilgrims. They decided to have the three signs engraved with the distances from the school to Retford (the home of the pilgrims), London (the location of the Mayflower’s homeport of Rotherhithe), and America (the destination of the Mayflower’s famous voyage).

Result

The school now has a fantastic, inclusive, themed physical play area for children of all ages and abilities. St Giles school is an extremely valued customer of ours and we love working with them to create these special outdoor play environments.