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Original poster

that's a genius idea - playground on the roof!

37 replies

UniqueAndAmazing · 23/04/2013 08:07

just watching breakfast tv and they're doing a report on a london primary school that has built a playground on the roof.
what a genius idea!

it's extra outside space, it's something that would otherwise be useless.
I bet a lot of the newer buildings could do that - the ones with flat rooves.
they could make them playgrounds or evenlittle gardens - the gardens would mean that education would get added in.

I love it!

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mnistooaddictive · 23/04/2013 08:11

I have seen this in quite a few schools in urban areas. Good use of space as long as there is a high fence!

mrz · 23/04/2013 18:39

The fence at the BBC featured school was waist high to the reporter and my first thought was most of my class would be over that!

PotteringAlong · 23/04/2013 18:40

Xan you really not see shy problems with a playground on the roof...

meditrina · 23/04/2013 18:42

Commonest place for them in heavily built up areas like Hong Kong, and not unsafe is well fenced.

Mintyy · 23/04/2013 18:46

I was really freaked by the height of that playground barrier. I thought it was nowhere near high enough!!

Feenie · 23/04/2013 18:54

We have a playground on the roof....

LindyHemming · 23/04/2013 19:14

This reply has been deleted

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nlondondad · 23/04/2013 19:19

And we have a playground on the roof as well...

ShadowStorm · 23/04/2013 19:20

I thought that the fence on that rooftop playground looked far too short.

Sounds like a pretty good idea though, provided the fence is much higher than the one shown on the school in the breakfast show.

JollyPurpleGiant · 23/04/2013 19:21

This has been done for a long time. There's a Victorian school I know which had the playground on the roof :) Sometimes old ideas are worth looking at again.

Waswondering · 23/04/2013 19:24

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DreamsTurnToGoldDust · 23/04/2013 19:28

Theres a primary school in Covent Garden that has their playground on the roof. Its Victorian, I dont think its that unusual in Citys.

LondonJax · 23/04/2013 20:47

The primary school I went to in inner London had a playground on the roof. It was built in the early 1900s so the boys played on the roof and the girls played in the ground floor playground in those days (when you also had a separate entrance for boys and girls). By the time I went to the school we obviously mixed and when I was about 7 years old I remember a boy in my class lobing a football over the fence, it fell the three or four floors and almost killed the headmistress! We were banned from the roof from then on...

YoniMcShoni · 23/04/2013 20:53

I went to a Victorian primary school that had an upstairs(girls) playground.
Not a roof.
It was over the downstairs (boys) playground .

There was a reasonably high wall around it but the wall was lined with benches which we stood on Grin. All the better to watch the comings and goings of the pub behind the school. I dont think anyone ever came to grief in that playground .

Possibly the worst part was the single toilet in the corner -for about 100 children Shock

bigTillyMint · 23/04/2013 21:55

There are quite a few with rooftop playgrounds - I know the one in Covent Garden as our friends live next to itSmile

mummytime · 23/04/2013 22:05

I know of a prison in the US with its exercise yard on the roof! It is a very secure area.

Patchouli · 23/04/2013 22:51

Where do you line up for fire drill then?

ReallyTired · 23/04/2013 22:56

This playground looks good.

www.ridgeford.com/media-centre/06-07-12/Marylebone_schoolchildren_get_new_canopy_for_rooftop_playground.aspx

I suppose that the school would need a lift to allow disabled chidlren to get to the playground.

TheHerringScreams · 23/04/2013 23:00

Our DC's London primary school has that. There are 840 pupils I think, and they have little space. There are two 'blocks' for Infant and Junior but inside the same school, it's just for easiness. Incredibly high and secure fencing, and they have turf and it's like a nice normal playground. They have stairs to get there, and a lift in case of wheelchairs and Reception children usually go up in the lift too. Fantastic idea. They're knocking down some council owned buildings which shall become art of the school next year. They plan to expand it by adding another 190 pupils but they'll also have a rooftop playground on a new block, which they're going to have specifically for Upper Juniors (Yr5 and6) and they'll have a bit of field. Great scheme for us in a built up area, safe, lovely, fun.

Original poster
UniqueAndAmazing · 24/04/2013 12:39

yes, i didn't like the fence.

a better fence would be unclimbable and 6ft high.

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Original poster
UniqueAndAmazing · 24/04/2013 12:40

feenie and nlondondad - does it work?

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Original poster
UniqueAndAmazing · 24/04/2013 12:41

ReallyTired - yes, that fence looks higher and safer, too :)

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Original poster
UniqueAndAmazing · 24/04/2013 12:42

Herring that sounds great :)

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Feenie · 24/04/2013 17:27

Yes, it's fine - the see through barrier is quite high and KS1 play up there.

whiteandyellowiris · 24/04/2013 17:34

really tired don't think much to that one, they bang on about getting children outside, then stick a bloody great canopy over the top, so they might well be near enough be inside....