Preston based recruitment agency builds school playground for Blackpool primary school.

Preston based education recruitment agency, Spencer Clarke Group, has built a new school
playground for Mereside Primary Academy with a mixture of new and upcycled materials.
Part of the Fylde Coast Academy Trust (FCAT), Mereside Primary Academy welcomes over 200
children through its door with the motto “Learning Together, Achieving Together.”

Over the school summer holiday, local tradespeople PGA Contractors and the agency
employees themselves overhauled the playground which now boasts an outdoor library, an arts
& crafts wall, a construction zone, a music wall, and a curiosity shed.

Designed for nursery and reception children, the playground adheres to the Curiosity Approach,
a practice under the Early Year Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework.
The EYFS framework sets the standards that early years providers must meet to help children
gain the knowledge and skills they need to begin school. The playground provides early years
with a safe place to socialise, have fun and engage in construction play.

Throughout the build, consideration was made to conservation and sustainability, with existing
materials lovingly upcycled and repurposed where possible.
The playground boasts multiple opportunities for development and combines outdoor play with
traditional classroom subjects to provide what the school website describes as a “happy,
exciting learning environment where all our children are supported to do their best.”
Reception Teacher and EYFS Lead at Mereside Primary Academy Vicky Meeks, said “We can’t
thank Spencer Clarke Group enough for their time, generosity and hard work. They have made
such a difference to the playground and the children's experience within the school.”
Head of Marketing Debbie Holden who headed up the project said “Through the agency, we
always give back where we can but this has been our most ambitious project to date.”
Holden continued, “We had a few challenges along the way, one being the great British weather
disrupting our plans, but we got there in the end and I couldn’t be prouder of what we have
achieved.”
Formed in 2017 by Lytham man, Mike Shorrock, Spencer Clarke Group is an award winning
recruitment agency that specialises in a range of key disciplines within both the public and
private sector. The agency employs 50 people at its offices at Bartle Court Business Centre,
near Preston.