Critchill School Playground Renovation

The renovation of the school playground been a long-standing aspiration held by the staff and pupils. They had always wanted a dynamic and engaging play space that would reflect the vibrancy of the school community and cater for the wide range of needs and ages within their student population.

Pupils began working to design the play space and generate funds in September 2019. They visited local parks, adventure playgrounds and outdoor gyms to gain inspiration for their project and created a short film to illustrate their ideas. The multi-academy trust, Midsomer Norton Schools Partnership, match funded part of the project and the film was entered into the KOMPAN national matchfunding competition, in which it was successful.

The playground has a range of different equipment from playground equipment to outdoor fitness equipment. This creates a variation for children to participate in during school play. By incorporating the equipment that the pupils wanted, considerate, inclusive design choices were also made in conjunction with the expertise of therapists that the school works closely with, in order to support the particular needs of the young people that attend Critchill School.

The installation has now changed the outside playground space completely. The imposing twin Mega Towers act as an enticing centre piece while other dynamic play equipment cleverly invite the pupils to play.