Playground glamping for North Shields school

Young learners at Riverside Primary School in North Shields are exploring the outdoors in their recently transformed outdoor area.

From construction areas to glamping area, the early years area is a safe place for children aged three to five years to learn, grow and develop.

Since opening in 2001 the school’s outdoor area had remained the same and early years teachers came together to design proposals for an interactive, fun area for those in nursery and reception classes.

Riverside then invested it’s funding into the area to bring the vision to life.

Children can now access the area all day and in all weather conditions, whether it’s putting on a show on the stage or teaching others in the outdoor classes there’s a fantastic range of equipment to use.

Headteacher Angela Yilmaz said: “Our schools’ philosophy is that if we get the foundations of learning right in the early years, our pupils will go on to achieve success throughout their education and that’s why we chose to invest our funding into transforming the outdoor area.

“Thanks to the vision of our fantastic early years team and the help of an outdoor play company, the area now really maximises learning opportunities for our youngest children.

“The faces of our children is testament enough to how much they’re enjoying the area and we’re all looking forward to seeing our early years children benefit for years to come.”

The spacious new area has been open since the start of term, but this month representatives from North Tyneside Council and parents and carers were invited down to formally open and celebrate the area.

Dame Norma Redfearn DBE, Elected Mayor of North Tyneside, visited the school to see the positive impact the area has had on its early years provision.

She met with young children in the classes, watched as they happily played and heard how much they liked the area.

Speaking of her visit she said: “I’m extremely passionate about education and ensuring young people in our borough have access to equipment and experiences that will help them to grow and develop.

“It’s wonderful to see the transformation of this area into a fantastic place for young children to start their education and develop new skills and interests and the design really represents the passion of the team at Riverside Primary School.

“Areas like this are crucial to children’s developments and it’s great to see first hand how much of a positive impact this change has had on the area.”