New playground opens at St Martin's School in East End

Pupils at a North Hampshire primary school have been enjoying themselves on a brand new set of playground equipment that was completed and installed last month.

St Martin’s Primary School in East End had to fundraise to get a new playground area built after its last one fell into disrepair during the pandemic and had to be condemned.

After three years of fundraising led by the school’s association, the new outdoor play area is finally complete and open for pupils to play on.

St Martin’s headteacher Katy Bartlett said: “My lunchtimes have been lovely this week as I’ve just been able to watch children play and have fun.

“It’s had such a positive impact on their mental wellbeing, as well the physical side with the climbing, balance and co-ordination. It’s been really special.”

Once the previous equipment was condemned, the association quickly organised a variety of different fundraising events to raise the substantial sum it cost to build a new play area.

Fundraising activities included summer fetes, Christmas wreath making, discos and cinema nights.

The association also received a substantial grant of £3,656.21 as part of Hampshire County Council’s councillor grant scheme. The grant was awarded by councillor Tom Thacker (Con, Whitchurch and The Cleres).

As well as this, the St Martin’s Guild provided a considerable donation towards the project.

Mrs Bartlett said: “The fundraising has taken a considerable amount of time and effort by my school association, but it has well been worth it.”

St Martin’s school pupils also had a hand in the new play area’s creation.

The choice and design of the play area was chosen by the school council, and school council members spoke with the project leader of the construction company to decide where the different pieces of equipment would go.

Once the new play area was finished, Mrs Bartlett and the rest of the school staff had discussions with the pupils to decide on some rules.

She suggested a rota be drawn up so that everyone guaranteed their turn.

However, the pupils rejected this idea because they all wanted to play with each other at the same time.

They promised that no one would dominate the time on the equipment, and that older pupils would help out the younger ones.

Mrs Bartlett said: “It’s been wonderful watching them because they’ve done exactly what they said they’d do.

“Our school values of friendship have come through and I’ve watched older pupils holding hands with younger ones as they’ve tried to walk along the log bridge.

“The children have been really supporting and helping each other.”