Mitre 10 delivers much needed playground rebuild for Brockville Full Primary School

Mitre 10’s Project Playground initiative delivers fifth new school playground, this time at Dunedin’s Brockville Full Primary School.

Tamariki at Brockville Full Primary School in Dunedin were excitedly exploring their brand-new playground today, which was built by Mitre 10 Helping Hands as part of its national Project Playground initiative.

The fifth school to benefit from Project Playground, Brockville Primary had recently had to demolish three playgrounds dating from the 1970s after a health and safety audit. A lack of funding meant the older students didn’t have a play space that encouraged their physical and cognitive development – until now.

“Our school is the hub of the community, and our school facilities and playgrounds are enjoyed by all, including on weekends. Over the years our school has maintained the facilities and grounds, however due to rising costs and lack of funding we had to demolish three of our playgrounds last year for safety reasons. We were left with just one junior playground and nothing for our seniors,” says Tania McDonald, Principal at Brockville Full Primary School.

“Although we hold fundraisers like discoes, which are supported by our school community, we’d have been saving for years to be able to get our senior students a playground.”

The low-decile school has over 155 students from several cultures and provides a safe and happy learning environment for a number of refugee children. Tania hopes that this playground will be another way of bringing the children together to embrace each other’s cultures and provide a safe space for them to express themselves.

“If we can use this playground to simply help our senior students and wider Dunedin community get into the great outdoors and bring a smile to their faces, then our job here is done. We’re just so grateful to be granted this new playground space for our tamariki,” says Tania.

The playground installation was a team effort involving Mitre 10 Helping Hands, Playground People and Mitre 10 MEGA Dunedin.

Neil Finn-House, Group CEO of Mitre 10 MEGA Dunedin and Mitre 10 Mosgiel, says: “Our team was delighted when we heard that Brockville Primary School had been chosen for a new Mitre 10 Helping Hands playground. I have enjoyed seeing it develop from the ground up and learning more about the school and its community, which has a real caring heart. Being a Dunedin-owned business, community engagement and support is a large part of who we are, and we adore projects that will make such a tangible difference in our city, none more so than something of this scale and impact.”

Mitre 10 worked with leading local design and installation company Playground People to ensure this play space caters to the ages and needs of the tamariki, with the aim of keeping children engaged in active play throughout their primary school years.