Playtime: St Joseph’s Stratford pupils rush to explore new playground

Maxon Foley-Kretschmar (6) and Zara Schmeling (6) thought the new playground was pretty cool. Photo / Ilona Hanne

An “incredible, super-duper, mega-fun playground” was unveiled at a Stratford school this week.

To the delight of tamariki at St Joseph’s School Stratford, the new senior playground officially opened for play on Tuesday and the youngsters were quick to explore it.

Principal Dave Smith said the “super-duper” playground was built on the hard work and tireless fundraising efforts of the school community, led by a dedicated and determined PTA.

“It is a reflection of the collaboration between parents, teachers, staff and our wider community, who have come together to provide our children with an extraordinary learning environment. Your commitment to our shared vision of nurturing ‘the whole child’ is commendable and today we celebrate the realisation of our collective efforts.”

Image 1 of 11: Claire Coatsworth (11) was all smiles as she shot down the new slide. Photo / Ilona Hanne

Many sausages had been sizzled, colour runs completed and various other fundraising efforts carried out over the years of planning, he said, which along with some sizeable grants had brought the playground from the drawing board to life.

“The Taranaki Electrical Trust (TET), the Toi Foundation and New Zealand Communities Trust have all donated considerable amounts of money to allow us to create this playground for our school community, for which we are incredibly grateful.”

Liza Fisher from Toi Foundation and Natasha Southorn from the school PTA had the honour of officially opening the playground. Photo / Ilona Hanne

Dave invited Liza Fisher from the Toi Foundation and Natasha Southorn from the school PTA to officially cut the ribbon to open the playground, saying it needed to be done before lunchtime “as I think we have some very eager kids here ready to try the playground out”.

Before children could explore the playground, they were given a lesson in the responsible use of it. To the delight of the pupils, their teachers and office staff took turns in demonstrating use of the fireman’s pole and other fun parts of the playground.

Then finally it was time for play – and plenty of it, with each class getting a turn at exploring the new play space over the rest of the day.

Claire Coatsworth (11) was one of the first to have a go and said it had been worth the wait.

“My friends and I are going to have lots of fun here.”