Garden Suburb Junior School

Golders Green - London

Built: July 8, 2015

“Excellent. We are very happy with the equipment and are also very pleased with the quality of the service that we have had from the team. I would highly recommend this company.” E.Bhavsar – Head Teacher

What were the reasons for developing your outdoor space?
The school and PTA had worked hard over a sustained period of time to raise a significant budget which they wanted to put towards developing play activities for all ages of children.

How we transformed the play area to provide outdoor learning opportunities for the children:
From the original design brief to the date of order confirmation, some 9 months later, we provided support and evolving designs to the school every step of the way. Being such a large project the school had received quotes from many different companies and even an independent landscape design company. We made sure to stand out from the rest by offering simple but effective developments to the play area which challenged every element of a child’s physical development, whilst appealing to all age ranges within the school. Every choice made by our designers were relayed back to the school in a series of meetings and discussions to explain the pros and cons of each decision. Throughout the process the school and PTA were after the ‘wow’ factor to show every child and parent that had worked hard to help raise the money what could be achieved. Our final design idea was to develop two separate Adventure Trails one High Level and one Low Level. The High Level Adventure Trail included a bespoke surfacing idea which included a Tree design to reflect the garden element of the school’s branding. Impressed with our designs, open and honest advice and previous references from projects in and around greater London the school were excited to have their new play area installed.
The Low Level Adventure Trail included a Rope Balance, Traverse Wall Double, Log Roll, Balance Weave and a Log Crossing all completed with a continuous all-weather Bonded Recycled Rubber Mulch Safety Surface.
The High Level Adventure Trail included one of our Forest Climber 2 climbing units, an Up & Over, Overhead Rings, Overhead Bars, Chin Up Bars and a Net Climb. Two Tree Benches were added around the adjacent trees and again everything was surfaced with our Bonded Recycled Rubber Mulch Safety Surfacing of Green and Brown colours to represent the natural tree design.
Before installation a safety meeting was given at a school assembly to help the children understand the process and Security Fencing was installed around both areas to allow the school to carry on running as usual with minimal disruption throughout the works. Even battling the horrendous downpours of the 2013 winter the new areas were completed within three weeks and ready for the excited school full of children.

How the children will benefit from the new play area:
There is no structured way of using the Forest Climber units so the children are encouraged to make their own choices and explore their own sense of risk. Co-operation will be tested when there are a few children on the beams at the same time. Every element of the Forest Climber is designed to improve upper and lower body strength whilst inspiring the children to keep active by exploring its varying levels time and time again. The High Level Adventure Trail will challenge every skill of the older children offering them a chance to develop upper and lower body strength whilst providing plenty of opportunity to improve their physical activity. The Low Level Trail offers an introduction to the younger children to start on their active journey through the play area and helps them build the courage to try the new High Level Adventure Trail. It still provides every age of child a challenging environment to improve balancing, traversing, climbing and crawling skills.

What were your main reasons for working with EPE over other competitors?
“Good customer relations. Prompt responses. Excellent designs.”

Address:

Golders Green – London

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