Schools' play areas given grants boost

Chilton and Fishburn Primary Schools have won grants from the Awards for All group to create outdoor play areas.

Chilton has been given the maximum £5,000 to equip its two playgrounds.

Headteacher Dave Wallace has been looking to improve facilities for its pupils since the infant, junior and nursery schools merged in September.

He said: "We've got playgrounds, but that's all we've got so we want to do something to develop the outdoor play potential.

"We realised from a very early stage, if we were going to make the most of play opportunities for children we needed to do something.

"Just putting kids in an empty playground isn't enough."

Teachers at the school are now putting together an action plan to decide what equipment should go into the playgrounds.

Play equipment companies have been approached and if all goes according to plan, it is hoped the first pieces will be in place by early summer.

Mr Wallace said: "We're absolutely delighted to get the award because £5,000 is a lot of money for a school.

"It means that instead of us having to do a lot of fundraising and using resources to buy a lot of portable equipment, we can go for something a bit more ambitious which will have more impact and benefit."

The majority of Fishburn Primary School's grant of £4,906 will be used to buy outside play equipment for the nursery children.

Headteacher Geoff Handley said: "The school put in a mini adventure playground for the infants a couple of years ago.

"We wanted to extend that into the junior play area and the nursery, which was going to be the next phase.

"But because of falling rolls and a budget deficiency we had to draw some things in a little bit. That's what made us go for the grant money, which is going to get us through to the next phase."

He added: "This is something the school's been working towards for a year, but Melanie Blackburn at the nursery is the one who's been pushing for the funding, so it's all credit to her."