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Playtime will reflect land and heritage

Holly ThompsonSound Telegraph
Education assistant Tammie Douglas and deputy principal Mel Stewart put together the grant proposal for the new playground.
Camera IconEducation assistant Tammie Douglas and deputy principal Mel Stewart put together the grant proposal for the new playground. Credit: Holly Thompson/ Sound Telegraph

About $83,000 in State Government funding will be split between four schools across Baldivis to help improve playground equipment or install shade structures.

The funding was awarded to Tuart Rise Primary, Baldivis Gardens Primary, Makybe Rise Primary and Baldivis Secondary College, and is part of the State Government’s $200 million School Maintenance Blitz.

Baldivis Gardens received $30,000 to complete an interactive nature playground for the Year 1 and 2 students.

Deputy principal Mel Stewart said the school had a vision to replicate the history of the land in its playground.

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“We will split the playground into quadrants, we are using our grant to design two of the four sections,” Ms Stewart said.

“The first quadrant is nature play, the grant will be used on this section and it will represent the traditional owners of the land ...”

Ms Stewart said there would be a wooden ship in the second quadrant to represent the early settlers.

“The third quadrant is the other section of the playground which we will use the grant on; we have a tractor which is being restored and it will go alongside a market garden to represent the farming land,” she said.

“Our final quadrant has already been finished and that is just a modern playground just to represent the current school.”

The playground at Baldivis Gardens is expected to be completed by the end of the year, with the school contributing an additional $30,000 towards the project.

Several of the Year 1 students also had a say in the final project and were able to create drawings of what their ideal playground would look like.

Baldivis MLA Reece Whitby said being active helped children at school maintain good health, so providing shaded outdoor areas and quality play equipment was important.

“We understand that for students to get the most out of their education, they need modern facilities within which to learn, play and develop,” he said.

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