Taking pride in local play space – youngsters do their bit to revive it

Pupils from a primary school have helped transform a tired play space into a wealth of colour and fun, as part of an exciting refurbishment project.

The children from Northwood Primary School, Northwood Place, Erith, attended a series of workshops to find ways to make the Glimpsing Green play area next to their school more welcoming and fun for youngsters.

Together they designed a variety of eye-catching totem poles to attract passers-by. They also selected a range of new equipment, including a zipline track rider, climbing net and slide, swings and a sunken trampoline.

The project was funded by Peabody, who are leading the long-term regeneration of Thamesmead, and supported by landscape architects, Turkington Martin.

Stephanie Lai, Peabody’s project manager for Thamesmead Landscape, said: “Glimpsing Green play area is tucked away on lower ground. In the past, if you weren’t looking for it you wouldn’t even know it was there.

“That has all changed thanks to the wonderful totem poles proposed by the Turkington Martin team and designed by Northwood Primary School pupils.”

To complete the project, the children planted a range of plants in the school’s wellbeing garden nearby and attended a special celebration assembly where they were presented with bookmarks made from their totem pole artwork they produced.

Stephanie said: “We want to cultivate a sense of belonging. We want the children to play there, to treasure and protect it. Even once they’ve outgrown the play area, we hope they will continue to take pride in their work on the project, their local environment and in seeing the next generation of children having fun in the play area.”

A teacher at Northwood Primary School, said: “Too often adults assume they know what children want. The kids picked all of this, so there’s just mad excitement about every single part of it.”

Work started in May, following a consultation with local residents. The play area is now open for use.

Pictured top: Northwood Primary School students celebrating in front of the totems they helped design, holding the original artworks (Picture: Thamesmead/Peabody)