Many schools across Australia are prioritising green space in their landscapes based on a growing body of evidence of the health benefits it provides to students.
Benefits such as:
- increased levels of vitamin D
- improved critical thinking
- reduction in class inattentiveness
- reduction in ADHD symptoms
- improved emotional and mental health, and
- reduced stress levels and enhanced social interactions.
A 2016 study by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health - The Breathe Project (link) - found that school children who were exposed to green spaces had a greater increase in working memory, scored higher on cognitive tests, and had a greater reduction in inattentiveness than children who attended school with less surrounding green spaces.
At Coolabah Turf we're 100% committed to helping Aussie schools and communities raise happy, healthy kids, by promoting active outdoor living and the benefits of getting kids off screens and out into nature.
A primary focus of our corporate vision is to provide simple pockets of lush green space for passive play so our kids can disconnect from the online world and reconnect with others, face to face.
Turf is also the safest surface for our children to engage in outdoor leisure activities, games and sports, so it makes perfect sense for schools to be making this a priority.
In recent times, we've worked closely with a number of Victorian schools, supplying our turf for green space projects at:
- Toolern Vale Primary School
- Kennington Primary School
- Victory College, Bendigo
- St Mary's Primary School, Echuca
- Echuca College
- Pyramid Hill College
- Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Elmore
The overriding motivation behind each of these projects was to improve student health and wellbeing, provide safe and natural playing surfaces for children, and to improve the aesthetics of the landscape.
In this video, you can see the stunning visual impact of the green space created at Toolern Vale Primary School, but also how the turf has improved the safety and usability of their playing spaces.
"We had an area in our school that was quite unsafe and we had a few injuries from our students and our staff, so as a school council we decided we had to minimise the risk," said principal Dawn Vassallo.
"As well as making our area a lot more safe, it also means we can encourage our students to have that healthy, active lifestyle."
Coolabah Turf Managing Director Suzie Shearer said her team loved working with schools that were willing to invest in the health and wellbeing of their students by creating the ideal outdoor spaces for kids to grow and thrive.
She said the best turf for schools was Coolabah's Eureka Premium VG Kikuyu - which was super hardy and had a rapid recovery rate to withstand the pressure of high foot traffic areas often dished out in the school yard.
"We love creating instant lawn landscapes in school grounds to give kids a safe and beautiful space to be active during their break times and to help improve their attentiveness during learning time in the classroom," Suzie said.
"The outdoor areas at schools are an important part of education for all students. By establishing, upgrading or expanding green environments in schools, we not only improve the aesthetic appearance, but it can become a wonderful learning environment with so many benefits for student health and wellbeing.
"The lessons kids learn in the green spaces in school yards can be just as vital as what they learn in the classroom. It's where they learn resilience, problem-solving and life skills, build courage and confidence, reboot from concentrating in class and create some of their best schooling memories."
In this fast-paced, modern world where mental health issues are at an all-time high, we are passionate about pursuing our ‘green space’ crusade to make our society a better place to live, work and play.
At Coolabah Turf, we don’t just grow grass; we change lives… and take pride in our commitment to building healthy communities... one green space at a time.
For more information on how your school could benefit from an upgraded or expanded green space contact our team of turf experts today on 1800 055515.
