– A designated calm space to help kids be by themselves when they need to re centre and process their thoughts and feelings (respite spot). Tunnels and confined spots that feel secure.  currently my son sits up the far end of the of school grounds under trees and behind the logs when he wants to be by himself.  It would be nice if there were better thought out respite areas for solitary play and small group play.

– gross motor challenges that require mental strategy – helps strengthen mind-body connection. Balancing beams/wires and obstacle courses. This kind of play is great for kids who get overwhelmed by their emotions and need some mental/physical challenge to calm their thoughts and feelings.

http://d3bepjs67csiac.cloudfront.net/photos/medium/785514bf8054f4bcf7edb7bde28366a2.jpg

– a meeting place to facilitate communication and resolution between groups and individuals. like a rocky outcrop amongst trees, where kids can sit around in a circle and talk freely.  there’s a good one in queens park moon ponds, where all the kids meet together to talk widely amongst themselves. can’t find a picture of it unfortunately.

The link below goes into greater detail about sensory regulation in playgrounds.

http://thefield.asla.org/2014/02/13/sensory-diets-in-outdoor-play-environments/

1. School grounds should be magical, adventurous, engaging with complexity, environmentally friendly and good fun for all ages i.e. not think playground only for the younger ones, as we all learn through movement and material encounters!
2. Unfortunately there is not a favourite part of the School grounds at the moment.
3. We quite like what they did at the Royal Park Nature Playground in Melbourne.

Although our grounds are quite small I think we could do a great job transforming them into a great space for/with the kids. It will be great if we could choose wood over plastic, explore the idea of how a playground would look thinking with non-euclidean geometrical spaces (I saw a post in your blog about hyperbolic geometry so I feel confident to mention this), leave a space for a kitchen garden for the kids, lots of climbing, hanging, balancing games, and also spaces for kids that prefer more quite environments as a cubby house or so. I also thought would be great to have a musical corner… (sorry…I got too excited!)

Other simple ideas

– a tunnel embedded in a mound of earth (and grass) would introduce levels to an otherwise very flat landscape,

– using the vertical pipe fencing (between the playground and grass oval) as a base for weaving or constructing cubby houses,

– logs to create nooks and crannies – horizontal, vertical, angled, for that meandering behavior that is often the base of games and small scale interactive play

– bamboo poles for temporary structures and cloth, even if they were only brought out on Mondays (for example)….”

1. Maintenance, repair and duty of care should be a priority. Grounds are showing their age, old infrastructure like seats, fences are broken, splintered and concrete edges are uneven. It’s not sexy but this needs to be fixed, mended, replaced, painted.

2. There isn’t space to add more but I do like the idea of using what is already there. Like adding a rope climbing / traversing wall on an existing boundary fence or creating a water play zone on the side of a building .

Instead of the fence between the playground and oval?

Putting in steppers as garden edging to promote balance and challenge

Building forts, nests or platforms around existing trees to add varying heights and viewpoints

They have a great nest st Healesville sanctuary

2. Keep the grass but resow it. It’s the only open space at the school and should be kept to allow free play.

3. Create a lounge perhaps partially indoors? For grade 5/6 – somewhere for older kids to socialise, rest, view goings on, feel a little privacy. As the school population gets bigger it would be good for older kids to have their own ‘zone’ so they are not left to play in yard and avoid littler kids in the process.

4. Dress up the prep outdoor area. It’s seen better days..

5. Regular working bees to maintain the space? The grounds looked amazing after the last one. Maybe once a term would make it less work each time?

I hope that helps. I’ve probably blown the budget…

· lizard lounge with big rocks and a frog bog

· eco cubby house (fits in with Grade 6 energy module)

· indigenous cultural gardens (fits in with Grade 6 studies)

· new planting eg. medium size planting bordering grass area

· holding bay for waste and compost – divide litter into landfill, compost and recycling

1. Can we fix basic infrastructure so we don’t have to jump hoops to accomplish basic garden maintenance?

We have lost yet another “golden key” which lets us plug the hose into a tap to water the raised garden beds. Also the tank in the playgroup area only provides dribbles.

When first touring the school I was impressed with the attention paid to collecting rain water to irrigate gardens to grow food and teach kids about the cycle of nature and our reliance on it. However, the lack of basic fixtures around the school is making garden maintenance difficult. Also we don’t know if the tank next to the chook shed is collecting water and whether the irrigation system for the lawn makes use of it.

2. When we approve a project executed by volunteers, we should show respect for the work by supplying appropriate quality materials.

A case in point is the Twister. Four people worked on this for many hours over a number of days even mixing a hodge podge of colours to create vivid contrasting colours. Sadly, using left over water-based paint meant that even after a couple of weeks the game looked washed out.

I know this last point doesn’t relate to the meeting with the designer but I need to express it!

• the prep room has a back yard
• the grade 1-2 area has a large balcony/garden
• the grade 3-4 area has a long narrow balcony garden they walk past several times a day
• there’s a massive unused balcony over the chickens

Potential to have some tie-in elements with the main yard in these spaces, perhaps?