Though upgrading a school playground brings many advantages, it is often a major project and presents both opportunities and challenges. Before you can put designs on the table, there are some important questions to be asked. Here, we look at the key questions you need to consider.

1. Where will we find the funding?

Depending on the size of the playground and the equipment you want to install, a playground upgrade can come with a hefty price tag. While there may be funding available from within the school budget, many schools need to source additional funds from grants and raise money through fundraising activities. This may mean asking the PTA to run events, getting the children and staff involved in sponsored activities and seeing if any philanthropically minded members of the school or local community (including local businesses) are willing to make donations.

Careful design of the playground can help keep costs to a minimum and at ESP Play we point you in the right direction of potential grants and give ideas and advice on fundraising.

2. Where to create the upgrade?

Getting the most benefit from a school playground doesn’t always mean that the upgrade has to be in exactly the same space as your existing outdoor area. There’s always the potential to extend the area, join formerly separate areas together, shift the space over a little or even move it to the other side of the building. Why does the school have a south-facing car park and a north-facing playground when the opposite would be the obvious choice? Why is the one area of natural beauty on the school site nowhere near where the children play? Asking questions like these can help you think outside the box and realise the true potential of the space you have available.

Of course, there are many other things to consider, such as access, safety, planning permission, the suitability of the ground, the type of landscaping you want and so forth.

3. Who is going to use the playground?

While the obvious answer to this is the pupils, schools need to think very carefully about the children’s needs when planning an upgrade. One key factor will be inclusion. A playground needs not just to be accessible to all, but to provide opportunities for all. There’s no point putting a wheelchair access pathway to the playground if a wheelchair user is left unable to play with their friends or make use of any equipment. This principle applies to children with all needs.

At the same time, schools need to look at how children of different ages and interests play. The design you create should provide them with the activities they want to do during their free time. For some, this will be just to have somewhere quiet to chill out and chat to their mates, for others it will be exciting equipment to climb on or sports markings to have a game of football or netball. Younger children may prefer to take part in messy play or have some whiteboards to draw on, etc.

Getting this right means getting to know your pupils and asking them what they want.

4. What does the school want the playground for?

Today’s school playgrounds are multi-functional and help the school in many different ways. From a multi-functional point of view, they are used for breaktime play, outdoor classrooms, PE, outdoor eating areas, interschool sports matches, school fetes and various other purposes. Questioning what you want the playground to be used for can help you create a design that brings this extra functionality. Consider how creating a picnic area, for example, could ease the pressure of lunchtimes in those schools whose canteens lack seating capacity. Or how an outdoor classroom could help enrich the curriculum while freeing up space within the school for other purposes. For secondary schools in particular, equipping the playground with a MUGA could make it far easier for PE departments who are often deprived of their halls during the exam season.

The type of equipment installed in a playground can also help schools in other ways. Apparatus that inspires children to be physically active, such as climbing frames and Trim Trails, can improve physical health and mental wellbeing, helping to reduce obesity and enabling children to cope better with depression or anxiety. Physical activity can also boost mental alertness in lessons and reduce disruptive behaviour, while social play helps improve relationships within the school and nature areas help improve mood and provide a safe, calm environment for children who need quieter spaces.

5. Who is going to install the playground?

This is a vital question, as your choice will affect the design and quality of the finished project. One thing you should consider is whether your playground installation contractor has experience working with schools. There are many differences between school and public playgrounds and a school specialist, like ESP, understands the specific needs that schools have. At the same time, you want a company that provides the full package, from start to finish; a team that will design the playground with you, supply all the equipment and materials you need, build and install the playground and then provide the regular maintenance needed to ensure its ongoing safety and good working order.  Working this way helps keeps cost down and makes it easier to manage the project, enabling it to get completed quicker and with a more satisfactory outcome.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are many things to consider even before you start to design your playground upgrade. The questions here, obviously raise other questions themselves and answering these ensures that, at the end of the project, the playground you end up with ticks all the boxes.

For more information, visit our Inspiration page or if you want an informal chat, call us on 01282 43 44 45.