The Squirrel Scramble at Fen Drayton Primary School

The Squirrel Scramble

Nestled in the Cambridgeshire village of Fen Drayton, our latest school project presented a unique creative challenge: to design a bespoke, low-level ground play trail that weaves alongside the trees at the back of the school playing field. Though this stands as one of our most compact builds to date, our approach in delivering play value remained unchanged. Close collaboration with Headteacher Nina revealed that the children naturally gravitated towards the shade of the trees, and she wanted a design that coexisted harmoniously with that environment.

The handcrafted timber trail is divided into four sections that challenge all year groups to balance, climb, and scramble, layering dynamic physical play right into their everyday exercise.  Hidden badges are dotted along the ground play to remind the children of the importance of physical activity.

Pete Dean, our resident Head of Happiness, led a school assembly to spark their imaginations and launch a competition to name the new space. Absorbing their ideas and collaborating directly with the student body is vital for building our working relationship with the school. This engagement with the school creates tangible excitement for their new play area and gives us the insight to create a design that goes beyond bespoke. Honouring the winning title - we created a signpost with a hand carved squirrel made of Oak to mark the start of the trail.

The school is a passionate advocate for the Daily Mile challenge, where pupils run or walk around the perimeter of the field. Subsequently, The Squirrel Scramble has been seamlessly integrated into their daily routine, offering an alternative physical approach to their daily mile route and creating even more opportunities to use the space outside of break-time.

A few years ago, a devastating fire destroyed one of the school’s main buildings, forcing the entire school community into temporary mobile classrooms. As one of the lowest-funded schools in the region, the road to recovery has been tough. We’ve come to learn that bringing this build to life was about injecting a sense of wonder, pride, and new beginnings back into a fantastic school community that truly deserved it.

Witnessing the children explore The Squirrel Scramble was an absolute joy. Every age group found its own rhythm within the space, collaborating seamlessly as the timber structure became a conduit for their imaginative play scenarios, all delivered with beaming smiles that echoed across a playground full of activity and laughter.