A Barry Primary School has thanked Tarmac in Aberthaw for transforming an area of the school’s grounds into a construction-themed play area.
The idea for the project came from Mr Ian Hawkins, a learning support assistant at Jenner Park Primary School, who wanted to create something special in the year-2 and year-3 yard.
Mr Hawkins told the Glamorgan Star: “I had always wanted to have a construction area for the children to play in and an area where they can roleplay with ‘real life’ equipment. However, there was no budget available to help make this dream become reality.
“I contacted Tarmac in Aberthaw to see if they could help fund by either donating some stones, wood chips or a little bit of money towards buying some toys. I was overwhelmed by the response.”
That response was that Tarmac agreed to fund the whole project and helped to build the area over the summer holidays with Mr Hawkins, and his seven-year-old son Albert, who loves construction sites and machinery.
For over a week in the summer holidays Mr Hawkins and Tarmac staff built and created a large construction roleplay area, with a gravel digging area and a wood chip digging area. Tarmac provided wooden sleepers to create the perimeter of the area and bought heavy duty die cast Tonka construction vehicles, clothes such as hard hats, tool belts, high vis vests and outdoor jackets.
When the school re-opened for the start of the autumn term Stuart Escott, plant manager at Tarmac Aberthaw and staff members came to the school to officially open it. He talked to some of the children about construction and went over some safety issues. The children were keen to learn more and then enjoyed having an opportunity to dress up and have a good exploration.
Mr Hawkins said: “I can’t thank Stuart, Kerry, Jamie and the staff at Tarmac enough. Without them we would not have what we have today so on behalf of myself and the children, I’d like to say a massive thank you.”
Stuart Escott said: “We were very happy to make a positive contribution towards the Jenner Park Primary School construction area project. It is great to see the children really enjoying the new construction area and we at Tarmac Aberthaw, feel proud to have been able to support the completion of the project.”
🌟 This article first appeared in the printed edition of the Glamorgan Star on 22.09.22. Read it in print first!
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