AGENDA
We did it! Two schools tell us about their playground transformations
‘Grants helped us turn our empty fields into a fun playground’
Georgia Trengove is chair of Newton Poppleford Primary School PTFA, Devon (182 pupils)
W
hen I became the chair of our PTFA, one of the first things I did was ask our
headteacher for his wish list. He didn’t hesitate: a trim trail and a climbing frame for key stage 1 and key stage 2. Our playgrounds were just empty fields of patchy grass. No equipment, nothing! We don’t see play as an add-on.
It’s much more than just physical exercise for the children. Through play, they learn to negotiate, communicate and develop their thinking skills through teamwork. Children learn to calculate risks and conquer their fears, often without even realising they are learning. Play gives them the confidence to be
bolder in the classroom – to have a go at that scary-looking maths question or express themselves fully in creative writing, for example. Our PTFA’s initial figure of
£15,000 was way off! Three different companies quoted for us: a local provider; Phoenix Play, who had supplied something similar at our pre-school; and a larger national company, who were really expensive. We decided to go with Phoenix Play again, as we knew their work and we were happy with the quote of £28,000, even though it
was almost double what we had put aside. There are plenty of grants
available, but finding the right ones can be challenging as you have to match them with your intended spending. Some applications require lengthy forms, and you only realise halfway through that you don’t meet their criteria. Sometimes providers come back to you for more details or certain information. But it was worth the effort, as we were awarded a total of £11,000. The Edwin and Joyce Hill Charity
Through play, children learn to negotiate, communicate and develop their thinking skills through teamwork
gave us £6,000, while the Gibbons Family Trust contributed nearly £1,000. Both of these are local charities. We received almost £1,500 from Waitrose and Asda, along with £1,000 from a county council grant, plus smaller amounts from local groups. Our most successful event was our
first colour run, which raised more than £4,400. Event Colour supplied the powder and did an excellent job helping us calculate how much we’d need. We were fortunate to have a
School Fundraising SPRING 2026 11
AS TOLD TO ZENA ALLI
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