Developing and Enhancing Our Outside Areas

We have been developing and enhancing our outside areas for the children's emotional wellbeing and enjoyment.  This is all part of our work using the Resilience Toolkit and will help to embed what we are already doing in school, identifying gaps and formulating actions moving forward. We really noticed a difference at playtimes with everyone enjoying the outdoor area fully. As these projects are part of our School Development Plan, all school staff attended outdoor play training. This gave everyone the opportunity to understand and contribute to developing our play and provision. 

We held our first Play Assembly as we opened up our digging and woodland areas for the children to play in. We discussed how to use the equipment properly and what we need to do to keep ourselves safe whilst enjoying the area.  The children's imaginations ran wild digging for dinosaur bones and treasure, and making camps and traps for the Year Two monster.

 We were thrilled with how ‘The Oaks’ looked and the peaceful space it provides.   The children helped design this area and we loved their ideas of flowers, bird feeders and ponds! The School Council helped lay some of the pebbles and we were so grateful to Mrs Cherry, who worked with Deborah Tompsett the ceramicist to complete our wonderful art installation. We are also thanked Mr Puttock who has designed a complete planting scheme and worked with the children to implement this; as well as the Sevenoaks Garden Centre, who spent time helping Theo, Charlie and Alfie in Jupiter Class to choose pots and plants, and then refused to accept any payment!  We were delighted when Councillor Avril Hunter, Chairperson of the Sevenoaks District Council, agreed to officially open our new garden area for us.

Our two sandpits are amazing!  It is wonderful to watch the children laugh and play in this tactile area.  They built sandcastles, made streams and dug for gold!   The children's excitement and inventiveness continued as they played in the The Woodland Area and The Hollow working together to invent games and activities of their own.  

We discussed the rules for our Trim Trail area and decided how to use the equipment safely, so that everyone can enjoy the benefits of it.  The children decided that the adult on duty should stand by the monkey bars and help anyone who might find it difficult to get across them.

Who would have thought a few water troughs and drain pipes could be so much fun!  The children really enjoy playing the new water area and making different water runs!

Everyone loves playing with Lego! And the children really enjoy designing and making different things together. 

We love dancing and singing along to songs on the Busker!  It keeps everyone fit and the children really enjoy it singing their favourite songs!

Our lovely new, bright Friendship Shelter is the perfect place to meet new friends and enjoy a chat!

The Discovery Area and Hollow lets the children's imagination run free.  They make camps for dinosaurs and houses for insects and have races rolling the tyres.

We have also introduced a traffic light system to support the children in solving friendship conflicts.