Tell me something about your school life? Many of us retain vivid memories of early education. To paraphrase Hertzberger’s teachings, memories are not necessarily formed in classrooms, but may linger in the corridors and spaces surrounding them.

The Playground is a quintessential part of a Child’s Life and Learning, alongside other elements of institutional education: Classrooms, Corridors, Toilets, Assembly hall, Dining hall, Library.

A stimulating, memorable school environment contributes vitally to a child’s early development. Education understands this and evidence is clear that outdoor learning and play contributes to better learning outcomes.

In the UK, just over half (51%) of primary classes surveyed have the recommended 60 minutes or more of outdoor playtime / recess every day. A worrying 1 in 6 (16%) have less than 30 minutes (SEMBLE Playtime matters).

Roaming the playground can be an exciting, scary adventure. It provides a valuable opportunity for children to interact with each other across ages, genders, abilities and backgrounds. It is where children develop independent teacher-free social skills – the variety of games children are capable of inventing is infinite.

With this in mind we explored potential phasing options and zoning based on fast and slow activities to diversify age, gender and abilities interactions. We reviewed play areas on merit and usage, and sought to create more opportunity for incidental learning, outside of the classroom.

It was felt that the playground needed to evolve stronger around a central football pitch known as ‘the Cage’ which by its nature prioritised organised games. More gender-neutral breathing green, soft and slow spaces were required. The school’s urban asphalt environment offers few but distinct moments of nature, but trees are out of bounds and fenced off from the main play areas. The design sought to address these issues to balance organised sports facilities with more variable, green, spontaneous play and learning opportunities.

The options were presented as a tick-box shopping list of focus areas followed by a string of Parent-Teacher-Association meetings discussing financing and potential fund allocations. The project was selected by Coop for membership fundraising.