New playground a hit with the community

<p>Playgrounds are an essential part of any primary school&period; They are the locus of lunchtime socialising&comma; and they provide opportunities for students to develop motor control and problem-solving skills&period; So&comma; when Alexandra Primary School received their funding from the Schools Investment Package&comma; students overwhelmingly voted to replace their old playground&comma; which had been closed for safety reasons&period; The vote led Principal Fiona Mackley to begin the search for a suitable playground provider&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mackley knew she wanted the new playground to &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;be fit for younger students as well as provide challenges up to Year 8”&period; The aim was for the new design to &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;encourage safe risk taking and to develop students’ strength and coordination”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>With these goals in mind&comma; Fiona reached out to <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;parksupplies&period;co&period;nz&sol;schools&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer" data-auth&equals;"NotApplicable" data-safelink&equals;"true" data-linkindex&equals;"1">Park Supplies &amp&semi; Playgrounds<&sol;a> via their website and was quickly put in touch with resident Playground Consultant Melissa Cowie&period; Despite the challenges of the Covid-19 period&comma; Fiona and Melissa were able to have a successful consultation over Zoom&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Mackley said&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Mel got really creative with the playground design and was able to utilise our available funding to the absolute maximum&period; The proposal was very comprehensive&semi; it included all health and safety considerations as well as options for ground cover&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Three proposals were considered&comma; but Alexandra Primary ultimately chose Park Supplies &amp&semi; Playgrounds’ design&period; The decision came down to a matter of quality&comma; and the school’s Board of Trustees was particularly drawn to the fact that all Park Supplies &amp&semi; Playgrounds’ equipment is made in New Zealand&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>During the installation&comma; Managing Director Jon Hooper ensured the job was done efficiently and safely&comma; despite an initial hiccup with a Dunedin-based subcontractor&period; Hooper ended up flying in their Auckland-based team to ensure a smooth installation&period; Fiona says the students were kept informed and engaged throughout the process&comma; and that the finished playground has already had a positive impact on their community&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It’s amazing to see how the children are so supportive and work together as a team&period; I would definitely go back to &lbrack;Park Supplies &amp&semi; Playgrounds&rsqb; for my next playground project&period; All the key people were fantastic to work with &lbrack;and&rsqb; communication was seamless&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;