Students’ playground designs become real
Liana Sangster (far left) and other members of 7T in 2006. They were the students whose investigation helped bring about the new playground. Photo: Supplied.
Golden Bay High School's impressive new playground is engaging students of all ages in good, old-fashioned fun.
The $85,000 fitness and agility centre ("Let's call it a playground," says high school deputy principal, Stuart Machin) answers a long-standing call for more things for students to do during their breaks.
Driving the project in the initial stages were students from form 7T in 2006.
"The kids were complaining," said form teacher Jeanine Taylor. "They said they needed something to do at interval and lunchtime. When we sat down and thought about what sorts of things they'd like, we decided to make the playground the subject of some enquiry-based learning. I told them they'd need to gather lots of information to present to the board of trustees and so they started conducting surveys. We asked our own students what sorts of things they'd like in a playground and then we got in touch with other schools where we knew there were playgrounds."
Mrs Taylor said that the other schools were very good about sharing information, so, at the end of 2006, the class went on an exploratory mission to find out what kinds of playgrounds were in the region.
"We went to Parklands in Motueka, Nelson and Broadgreen Intermediates and Tahunanui School," said Mrs Taylor. "Then the kids came back and started drawing up some designs to take back to the rest of the school. It was a long process."
In order to attract support and funding, the playground needed to address more issues than just play. "With all the attention being paid to obesity and physical activity levels in young people, the activities in the playground had to be shown to assist with the development of upper body strength and agility," said Mrs Taylor.
Eventually 7T sent one of their members, Liana Sangster, to make a submission to the then board of trustees. "Liana did a great job and the board was supportive straight away," said Mrs Taylor. "Then the funding issue had to be addressed. It's been a long slow process."
Eventually $35,000 was accepted with gratitude from the Canterbury Community Trust. "The other $50,000 has come from the school's bulk-funded five-year property grant," said Mr Machin. "It's a very serious investment and shows what a high priority the playground was for the school."
The playground is purpose-built for high-school students, so there's an age limit for users, said Mr Machin. "You have to be 10 or older to play on this equipment," he said. "Our year seven and eight students have really taken to it in the short time we've been back at school, but older students are using it too. The way it's set up means that it could also be used by year 12 students in adventure-based training for physical education and outdoor education."
Mrs Taylor is thrilled to see the numbers of students playing on the new equipment. "It's awesome," she said. "It gives kids somewhere to play in groups or on their own if they like. It's a cool place to be. There's nothing childish about the activities and there's something for everyone."
Liana, who really likes the new flying fox, said she remembered being quite bored at intervals and lunchtimes when she first went to the high school.
"We just used to sit on the field and talk. I think it's just great that the kids are not being bored now."
Neil Wilson
