School misses out on playground make-over

The playground at St Gabriel’s RC Primary School in Castleton

Despite two weeks of campaigning from parents and children St Gabriel’s RC Primary School in Castleton has missed out on a £30,000 playground make over.

The school was one of six finalists in the Ronseal Playground Project Competition and the only school to make it to the final from the North West – however, the school didn’t quite make it and was announced as the one of the competition’s runners up.

The school made it to the final after beating off competition from over 1,200 schools across the UK.

Over the past two weeks members of the public have voted for their favourite school.

The Castleton school bagged a staggering 1,982 votes, but it wasn’t enough to beat off the winning school, Murraryburn Primary in Edinburgh, that had 6,725 votes.

Although they didn’t win the make-over the school will now receive a Timberline story tellers chair plus Woodland Trust tree packs to help spruce up their outdoor space.

Kate Hodge, Brand Manager at Ronseal, said: “The response to this competition has been overwhelming and we want to offer our thanks to all of the schools and individuals who took part and voted.

“We would like to congratulate St. Gabriel's RC Primary School on the high calibre of their entry and we hope they enjoy their runners up prize.” 

A representative for the school was unavailble for comment at the time of publication.