Our new Play Space won an Award!

Our school has won a national award at the Education Business Awards.

We made the shortlist in the Play Space Award category along with four other schools, two in London, one in Lincolnshire and one in West Yorkshire.

Headteacher Gavin Oulton, Deputy Headteacher, Vanessa Cooper, Tracey Free, GLF Schools' Early Education and Early Years Specialist, and Mark Leach, GLF Schools' Regional Estates Partner headed to the Leonardo Royal Hotel in central London for the awards ceremony on Wednesday 14 June.

Olympic athlete Donna Fraser OBE made the presentations at the prestigious event.

Our Early Years Play Area was carefully designed to encourage collaborative play and clear communication and language for the children aged two to five. 

The project was led by Deputy Headteacher Vanessa Cooper and GLF Schools' Early Education and Early Years Specialist Tracey Free.

An array of bespoke features were included along with a covered classroom, mud kitchen, sand area and a stream.

"Winning the Education Business Award provides our school with a platform to celebrate its outstanding new Early Years Foundation Stage outdoor education area. It reflects the way the school operates in a collaborative manner with support from the wider GLF team for the benefit of the children at Merstham Primary School," said Headteacher, Gavin Oulton.

Also shortlisted at this year's Education Business Awards was Merstham Park School - which is also part of GLF Schools - for the School Building Award where other competitors came from Nottingham, Hertfordshire, Lancashire and Gloucestershire.

Merstham Park's new purpose-built secondary school, which opened last September, was designed and constructed with the environment and its future very much in mind. It delivers a 30 per cent reduction in water demand, a 73 per cent reduction of energy consumption and a 60 per cent reduction in carbon emissions. The building utilises pioneering low or zero carbon techniques.

Among its many features is the ‘chameleon cladding’ of the sports hall which changes colour and blends into its natural environment.The school was delivered as a collaboration between the Department for Education and GLF schools. It has solar panels providing 44 per cent of its energy and air-source heat pumps reduce the gas bill by 97 per cent.

We are absolutely thrilled to have won this award. Having outdoor spaces that promote communication and interaction is vital within all GLF Schools and is making such a difference to all children.