A new extension to the junior playground at Greytown Primary School [GPS] will be ‘another brick in the wall’ – or rather path – thanks to a fundraising initiative launched this month.
Parents, alumni and supporters of the school, as well as the wider community, are invited to purchase a personalised brick to create a ‘legacy path’ to help pay for the upgrade of the popular but aging playground.
The playground is a favourite with the students, and “it’s really well used on the weekends”, school principal Paula Weston said, “even though it’s a bit old and dated”.
“It’s sort of the only playground on this side of town. Any time I come in on the weekend, there are families on the playground. We wanted to bring it up to spec.”
The original plan was to demolish the existing playground and start again but this was exchanged in favour of an “opportunity to add on” because “the kids still love what’s out there”, Weston said.
The playground extension has been designed by Jaime Okeeffe and her team at the Wanganui office of Playground Centre with input from students who were asked for ideas in a survey.
“It helps us to get the kids’ input because often people who organise playgrounds and pay for it, are not the ones that use it,” Okeeffe said.
The extension will feature two large, round basket swings and a new “jam-packed little module” providing 30 activities, including sliding, bridges and overheads.
The new equipment is all New Zealand-made, Okeeffe said. “We’ve just sent the steel to be powder-coated and the plastics to be moulded.”
The legacy bricks cost $100 each and can be engraved with text chosen by the purchaser.
How the bricks will be incorporated will be decided after the new playground space has been installed in January 2024, in time for the new school year.
“What we are set on is having [the bricks] connected to the playground,” Weston said. “Your brick will be right by the thing you’ve helped to build with it.”
David Ross, a member of the school’s board of trustees who has helped coordinate the legacy path project, said: “It’s more than just a fundraiser.
“It’s an opportunity for us to create a permanent thank you to our generous community that’ll be there for many years to come.”
- For more information about the legacy path fundraiser and to purchase a brick visit www.greytown-school.myshopify.com
