Thomasson Memorial Special School, Lancashire

Budget: 90k

Thomasson Memorial is a day school for deaf children aged from 2 – 16, it provides a caring, secure and supportive environment in which all children are respected and encouraged to develop to their full potential.

The school’s outdoor provision was lacking and in need of some attention so the schools business manager Katy called ESP Play following a referral from another local school that had worked with us previously.

Our consultant met with Katy and she explained that they had previously been reluctant to develop the outdoor area and invest money in the space because they will be moving premises in four years, however, the school had ultimately concluded that it wasn’t fair to the current pupils to leave it as it was and so they decided to go ahead. They wanted to focus on the main playground along with a section of natural grass at the back of the building and our consultant made various suggestions of what could realistically be done with the available space. The school had put a lot of thought into what they wanted to do, they had very clear idea’s and had involved the pupils in the process as well as putting their own design together.

They had a deteriorating swing set onto wetpour surfacing that they wanted to remove and replace, some existing markings that they didn’t use that they also wanted to remove and replace, they wanted to add some climbing equipment for the primary aged pupils, some gym equipment for the secondary aged pupils, an outdoor classroom because they had no shelter from the sun or rain and to surface as much of the natural grass as possible so that it could be used all year round. They also wanted to surface the area at the back of the school so this could be used for football and other sports.

Once the school saw our initial design, they wanted to make a couple of changes; they wanted to simplify the activity trail marking, extend the court marking, add a football pitch marking to the existing MUGA and remove the spinning log from the trim trail as they felt this particular item may be too challenging. Once they were happy with the design, they placed their order in December and received an installation date for the February half term as requested because the work had be to be carried out during a holiday.

Altogether we installed; a double swing set, seven pieces of trim trail equipment, four pieces of gym equipment, an octagonal shelter with solid sides, seating and decking, artificial grass surfacing so the areas can be used all year round and for sports and some colourful, physical activity encouraging playground markings.

As a result, the school were able to hold their first ever sports day and when asked about the new playground Katy said “We are really pleased with it and it has been a massive transformation for the school. The outside area actually looks like a playground now!”