Bringing colour to children’s playground, The Gateway School way

PlaySafe at The Gateway School of Mumbai

When Indira Bodani, the founder of The Gateway School of Mumbai, Deonar, wanted a school for the needs of special children in India, she decided that it must adhere to the best international standards and practices.

“Infrastructure was a major part of what was required. It was our mission to design a learning environment for children to explore and learn. We wanted to create it outdoors which was functional and safe and could be used for a variety of purposes like ball games, riding a bicycle, and many more,” said Anuj Iyer, Lead Teacher at The Gateway School of Mumbai.
The Gateway school currently has 55 students. It needed a safe and soft playground flooring which was also colourful. The school architect Radhika Desai recommended Ecoflex products to meet this requirement.
As ‘colour’ was a major part of the effect that needed to be created on the playground, Playsafe Premier Flooring was used across 127 square meters of the school premises covering the steps from the classroom and the playground.

Ensuring safety
“Special children fall and trip more than others and balancing is tougher for them as they get excited very quickly. We had to make sure that if children leapt or fell on the ground, they should not get hurt,” said Captain Rakesh Agrawala, President Projects at Ecoflex, who supervised the installation from quality stand-point.

Till then, The Gateway School imported only the high-quality equipment that met the international standards. The school agreed to implement an Indian product, Playsafe by Ecoflex, only after thoroughly evaluating its unique safety and flexibility features.

Stressing on the need for safety, Iyer explained, “The floor is soft; made of EPDM on rubber. There was an incident where a student fell from a height of 6-8 feet from a slide. But, he was completely fine, unhurt.”

A survey before the service
While the installation of Playsafe took three weeks, Ecoflex conducted a methodical survey prior to the installation. Iyer, happily confirmed that the company met all the timelines and was professional in its approach to work and the dealings with the school.

For instance, to understand how water that seeped out of the flooring could be drained, a team from Ecoflex interviewed the masons that worked at the school. The team even helped the school remodel a part of the ground before installation.

Good part was, whenever any problems sprang up, albeit unexpectedly, the Ecoflex team was back again for help. “Once, during some construction work at the school, a portion of the flooring was badly stained by the paint used. To our great relief, Ecoflex not only suggested the right solution but also sent a team to ensure that the stain was completely removed,” recalled Iyer.

Turning the surroundings colourful
The children at the school seemed to be enjoying the Playsafe flooring. Ecoflex’s Capt. Agrawala informed that a lot of thought had gone into making the flooring bright and colourful. It follows a unique colour scheme that starts from the classroom and leads right upto the playground. After discussions with the Architect, the playground was made with four main colours—blue, light beige, dark brown and yellow—to make it appealing to children.

The school integrated the PlaySafe flooring with a sand pit, slides, wood work, and plants for the entire play area. It was even able to install an inflatable swimming pool near the play area as the flooring was water-permeable.

Iyer described the possibilities that the flooring offered to the school’s students. “Besides playing, children also cycle there. Sometimes, they just lie around or roll on the floor. Nowadays, they play there for half-an-hour to 45 minutes. We plan to use it for more time, as we can even take classes at the playground.”