Video Transcription

Before the canopy was installed the playground was very bare. There was no shade from the rain, or the sun, for the children or parents.

We decided to enhance the playground with having a canopy, but from the outset we wanted the canopy to be as large as possible so that it could accommodate the maximum number of children and adults.

We are also a Sun Safe school, and having the canopy installed enabled us to meet many of the criteria for the Sun Safe school accreditation. And we chose this because we thought it was the most aesthetically pleasing, and one that would also appeal to the children, because at the end of the day it is their canopy.

I’m very, very pleased with it. We have had positive feedback from children, most importantly, the children. We have had positive feedback from the staff, positive feedback from the governors, and also members of the parent teachers association, who funded the majority of the work. So it has had a huge impact upon the whole school community.

Throughout the day it is used as an outdoor teaching resource, very versatile, that is one of the beauties of it.

A teacher can plan an activity outside and they know that they will be able to undertake that activity, whether it be hot sunshine, or whether it would be pouring with rain. They will be able to undertake it because of the canopy.

At lunchtimes it is used for the children to eat under and also to play under. So it is used the whole of the school day.

It was all done within a matter of about three months. We got the go ahead from the PTA just after Christmas and the canopy was installed less than three months later, in March. And it was installed to a very high standard.