A new way to play at the St Kilda Road Campus Junior School

A new play space at the St Kilda Road Campus provides opportunities to consolidate learning in new ways.

The glee of our young learners in the new playground at St Kilda Road Junior School is palpable. It is, by many accounts, ‘fun’, ‘cool’ and ‘A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!’

It is a dedicated and age-appropriate playground for Junior School students in in Year 1 – 4 with a playground for Prep and the Early Childhood Learning Centre nearby. Designed by Dean Joel (OW1985) and his team at a_space, the new playground excites, engages and develops students’ social, physical and emotional wellbeing. It’s also a lot of fun!

Play-based learning is integral to the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program, which children from 3-years-old to Year 6 undertake at Wesley. ‘Play is how children learn about who they are and about the world around them. The structure of the new playground provides greater scope for students to test their own boundaries, learn to make decisions, understand their limits, practice appropriate risk-taking and develop resilience – all through the art of play!’ said Sabeena DeBono, Head of the Junior School at Wesley’s St Kilda Road Campus.

‘Delivering a ‘wow’ factor along with unique, rewarding and exciting play experiences for the students was central to the design brief,’ Dean said. ‘We combined the brief from the College with our knowledge and experience spanning many thousands of playground projects to develop a unique design focussed on setting a new benchmark for school playgrounds in Australia.’

Natural elements encourage experimental, sensory and imaginative play and cognitive development and feature seamlessly alongside built elements, such as monkey bars, bouldering walls and basketball courts, to encourage exploration and movement.

‘With the growing concentration of built environments, it is increasingly important to provide children with the opportunity to integrate natural elements into their play experiences. Logs, sand and water allows children to enjoy ‘playing with nature’ and we’ve combined these with the thrill delivered through engineered play activities such as the rush of going down the huge spiral tube slides,’ said Dean.

Play exercises many aspects of a child’s brain and body. ‘The benefit our young people gain from spending time outdoors and engaging in play is fundamental to their development. The physical challenges provided by the new playground supports coordination, strength, and motor skills and plays a key role in the development of students’ self-esteem and confidence, critical to both their health and wellbeing,’ said Sabeena.

Basketball is popular with a range of ages in the Junior School, and the new playground provides more space for games with three mini basketball courts. Less popular equipment like the climbing frames have been replaced with more contemporary equipment such as a three-storey slide, ropes course and bouldering wall. The much-cherished Friendship Chair, a bench seat for anyone who feels lost or needs someone to play with, has been retained from the original playground.

‘I’m proud to have played a role in helping Wesley continue to set a new benchmark for school facilities in Australia. At the same time, I’m a little jealous that I didn’t have access to such a great play environment when I was a primary school student!’ Dean said.