Parents & Citizens Committee dig deep to get new playground up and running at Little Grove Primary School

Little Grove Primary School’s Parents & Citizens Committee has put together a new playground for their school, giving children a learning tool to last generations.

The old playground, built in 1997, was starting to fall into disrepair.

In response, the Little Grove PS P&C Committee leapt into action, raising the funds needed to install a new playground.

Converting cupcakes into climbing frames, the group managed to raise more than $10,000 in a fundraising effort that took more than a year.

A contribution of $10,000 was also given by Albany MLA Rebecca Stephens to help secure the playground quickly.

Little Grove PS P&C Committee president Ben Killey said the new playground was about supporting children to use their imagination.

“The early childhood play equipment went in back in 1997 and it’s just come to the end of its life and we needed to replace it before it became unsafe,” he said.

“We’ve done dozens of different fundraising activities including a uniform shop, an op shop or second-hand school clothing, and fundraising activities and raffles and catering.

“It’s the main big bit of school equipment that the kids use every day outside the early childhood centre.

“The playground is all about kinaesthetic play, so they’re playing together socially ... and so they’ve got a scaffold. They’ve got something they can use to come up with all their games.”

With the playground now ready to be enjoyed, Mr Killey said the project showed the importance of volunteering and giving a bit of time to the community.

“When people give an hour or two to turn a few snags and do those sorts of things, we can create all sorts of cool stuff,” he said.

“It’ll be there in another 20 years when people are having their own kids.

“So every time a parent walks past the playground, they can say, ‘I did that’ and when their kids grow up, they can say ‘when we were at school, our parents and our friends did that’.

“It’s all volunteer power ... when people get in and put in a bit of effort, they can get a massive return.”