Year 6 students Tess Kirkaldy, left, Makisha Smith and Ethan Smith from Jolimont Primary School. The school has just opened its new nature playground.
Camera IconYear 6 students Tess Kirkaldy, left, Makisha Smith and Ethan Smith from Jolimont Primary School. The school has just opened its new nature playground. Credit: Supplied/Andrew Ritchie.

Many hands make light work of Jolimont Primary School’s new nature playground

Jessica WarrinerWestern Suburbs Weekly

HEIGHT and challenge – that was what Jolimont Primary students wanted from their play equipment.

Their brand new nature playground certainly fits the bill.

Principal Barbara Iffla said things fell into place when the council came to cut down a nearby tree.

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“The City of Subiaco were coming to chop it down, but said they were more than happy to save it for the school,” she said.

“We craned it over the classrooms, and the rest was chopped for nature play logs.”

It was a team effort to get the nature playground up and running; along with the council tree, the P&C donated $20,000, ‘Uncle Matt’ from Arborwest donated more logs, an architect parent designed the space and a school board member coordinated the project.

The students played a large role in deciding exactly what they wanted to play on; the result was something high and something challenging.

“We took the kids on a bus trip and made a nature playground committee,” Ms Iffla said.

“We asked kids to play for 20 minutes and stand by their favourite item; we took photos, and the kids voted.”

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