All-weather fun at St Columba’s

Breaktime had a revamp, when St Columba’s Catholic Primary in Wallsend transformed its grounds to allow pupils to enjoy all-weather, creative, outdoor play.

The school increased the outdoor space available to the children, as well as introducing a series of zoned areas to encourage imaginative, active, and engaging play for all year groups.

“We started by ensuring that all children had a waterproof coat and a pair of outdoor shoes at school,” said Headteacher Rachel Steinmetz. “We began the transition by opening up all areas of the school grounds, so that children had a lot more freedom and a lot more space.

“Since then we have added ‘zones’ to our outdoor area. We now have a stage and outdoor instrument area; loose parts play, such as tyres, decking planks, cargo nets et cetera; den building; a wheeled area with bikes, scooters, and boards; a natural play zone, currently being used to build bug hotels; and we intend on opening up our forest area for further play experiences and a forest ‘reading zone’ in the next few weeks, with water play and other features in the future.”

The project has been spearheaded by Andrea O’Connor, who is Nursery Teacher and Forest School Lead at the school.

“So far it has been relatively low cost,” continued Mrs Steinmetz. “We supported families who needed it with the provision of coats and outdoor shoes. We spent around £3,000 on outdoor resources, which are robust, of good quality, and fit for play.

"We also used other resources that we already had within school. We’ve appealed to families and businesses in the local area for things like tyres, decking et cetera.”

“The key benefits of this is that the children are more active, happier, and there are fewer incidents with friendship and first aid,” she added.

“Enhanced play time helps to develop physical, social, and active play, purposeful play that is engaging – and children look forward to their time outdoors.

“We are also now outdoors in all weathers, and have only had one indoor play, due to a heavy storm, since introducing this.”