Our students are turning risks into child’s play thanks to the School’s new adventure playground. Opened in October, as part of the third phase of the School’s five year campus redevelopment plan, the outdoor area is designed to challenge. 

The new school playground has become immediately popular with students in both Elementary and Middle School but it is designed to be more than fun.

These challenges, says Megan Brazil, Elementary School Principal, are crucial for a child’s development, especially for a generation that typically spends more time indoors and engaged in sedentary pursuits. She explains, “In an increasingly cautious world, many of the risks that were a natural part of childhoods past have become rare opportunities for our children. Yet we know that children learn essential life lessons when they engage in a range of activities that contain some elements of risk. So, having a safely constructed and well supervised playground in which students are encouraged to challenge and extend their physical abilities is an important resource in our school.”

The physically challenging playground is the culmination of months of consultation and planning by a large team of teachers and administrators. As a result, every one of the 12 major structures that feature, were purposefully selected because of their health and social benefits. 

To improve cardio-vascular fitness and coordination, there’s a half court basketball area, trampolines, logs, ropes and a tether ball court. To encourage problem-solving, there’s the ‘bouldering’ mountain and water play area and to inspire creativity, there are tunnels and spiderweb climbing frames. A variety of swings, slides and monkey bars offer a good workout too, and for balance, a range of seating options are dotted around to give students a chance to rest and catch up with friends.

And it is not just the IB Learner Profile of Risk Taker that is being lived by our students in this new education space, they have also taken the initiative to turn Caring Communicators into action. 

The School playground has become a chance for students to demonstrate leadership and peer collaboration. With risk and challenge at the heart of the playground’s success, the Elementary School Student Council decided this was also a responsibility for students to own and conducted a survey among their peers about safe play rules. Their findings are not only informing adult supervision, but are also the basis for a new student designed and led Playground Behaviour Campaign proving that risk taking truly pays off in more ways than one!