St Martin’s Primary School in East End is enjoying its new outdoor learning area

An East End primary school has been feeling the benefits of the great outdoors after building a new exterior learning environment.

St Martin’s Primary School worked with the Hampshire School Landscape Team to plan the creation of their new ‘Cherry playground’ last year.

Since the new outdoor provision for reception children was installed, young pupils have been making great use of it on a daily basis.

Headteacher Katy Bartlett said: “We've now been using the new area for nearly a year and the impact it has had on the children and their learning is incredible.

“They love spending time outside and it provides great opportunities across all areas of learning.

“It's fantastic seeing the children build aeroplanes from the big bricks to going on adventures, creating their own recipes in the mud kitchen, performing their own songs and shows and even writing the odd speeding ticket for using the bikes too quickly around the new road.”

The school set out to create its new Cherry playground after the former outside learning environment needed renovating.

A nearby cherry tree’s roots had wrecked the playing surface, and the mud kitchen, although loved by the children, was old and broken in places.

St Martin’s worked with the Hampshire School Landscape Team to design and create the ideal outdoor area for the school’s youngest students.

The finished design includes several distinct areas with opportunities for children to role play, put on shows, and build their own obstacle courses.

There is also a new mud kitchen, a sandpit and a road for bikes and trikes.

The school put in a bid to the Winchester Diocese to help fund the project, and they agreed to cover 90 per cent of the costs, with the remaining 10 per cent being covered by the school itself.

Mrs Bartlett added: “It took two weeks for the playground to be installed, and caused quite a bit of disruption with children and parents having to use alternative entrances to their classrooms.

“However, it was incredibly exciting watching the playground take shape and we used it as a learning opportunity, with lots of child-initiated writing about builders and diggers.”

Mrs Bartlett also said that due to the rural nature of the school and its location, “outdoor learning is a key part of our curriculum”.

St Martin’s students take part in a variety of outdoor activities, with reception children going on regular welly walks, classes spending an afternoon once a half term looking after school grounds, pupils taking part in village litter picks, and runners training in the weekly cross country club.

St Martin’s is holding an open day for prospective parents on Monday, November 7.