#PlaygroundPrize Competition Winner

AND THE WINNER IS…

The team at Creative Play have been blown away by the response to our playground competition. We launched this campaign to say thank you to schools for stepping up and looking after vulnerable children and those of key workers. We wanted to give children something to look forward when the world returns to some form of normality and in the meantime, it provided educational, fun and enjoyable activities for children to complete at home and in school.

We thought a few hundred schools might take part at the most, however the response has been great and really shows how people value outdoor play, fun, being with friends and shouting about their school!

We launched the competition in mid-March with entries required by the beginning of May. During this time 1,600 schools took part in the competition, whilst an additional 3,500 parents and children took part via our home learning resources. Thank you to everyone who took part.

In early May we whittled down the entries to the final three. This was a hugely difficult task as the quality of entry was superb, it was great to see children’s imaginations run wild and an important lesson for us adults as to what children really think is important in their playground. The overwhelming message was about playing with friends – social play is something that has been missing from our lives for some time now and unfortunately it looks set to carry on for a little while longer, but we must remember the value of being with friends and outdoor activity when we return.

The final three schools have been amazing in gathering support for their cause! The competition has been promoted by local and national news, celebrities, sports personalities, Mayors, Members of Parliament and many more. Schools have created some amazing campaign videos and the children have really got behind the competition. Let us hope we have raised the profile of outdoor play in schools and how important it is to children’s mental and physical wellbeing, perhaps in the future more funding will be made available for this critical resource.

There can only be one winner, however. 164,606 responses were received in the 10 days the vote was open and the winner is ……………………….

Blackmoor Park Infants School in Liverpool

Congratulations to you, your chosen prize of one of our Adventure Trail 16 will be manufactured and installed in the coming weeks ready for you to use. We hope the children of the school enjoy outdoor play with their friends for many years to come.

However, we have been so impressed by how many people have taken part and the effort everyone went to. We have decided to extend the prizes for the competition.

In second place were:

The Ellis C of E School in Barnsley

We were particularly impressed by the efforts of Jude in campaigning for his school to win the competition. Jude was very keen to have a slide and play tower so we will be providing the school with a Windermere Activity Centre worth over £5,000. This will be manufactured, delivered and installed in the coming weeks.

In third place were:

Yew Tree Primary School in Walsall

May is National Share-a-Story Month and because being with friends is so important, we will be send Yew Tree Primary one of our favourite story telling areas, complete with storytelling chairs and wooden benches worth over £2,000, to promote outdoor learning.

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Additionally, every school who took part in the competition will receive a money off voucher for any future playground development they may undertake with Creative Play – keep an eye on your emails.