OUTDOOR LEARNING AREA KING’S BAPTIST GRAMMAR SCHOOL IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA TAKES AN EXTERNAL APPROACH TO LEARNING WORDS RICHARD KLEINIG, PRINCIPAL, JPE DESIGN STUDIO
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he new Outdoor Learning Area at King’s Baptist Grammar School’s Early Learning Centre (ELC) encourages varied educational experiences and risktaking opportunities that support the important relationship children have with their environment. With a key focus on flexible and nature-focused play, this contemporary landscape has been designed to easily change and adapt with each child’s imagination, inspiring them to be challenged, take risks and engage in creative activities to shape their learning future. JPE Design Studio worked closely with the school community, engaging them early in the design process to share ideas that helped form a distinct design language unique to the school’s desires. The outcomes gathered in the consultation process were critical in ensuring the school’s objectives were successfully interpreted into the landscape design and responded to the present and future needs of this progressive early learning facility. Throughout the design process Clare Williamson, King’s Early Learners Director, and staff embraced risk-taking and innovative opportunities, reimagining
what is possible for early learning environments. The result is a unique landscape that pushes beyond traditional expectations to create a response that addresses the project brief requirement for a space — “[representing} excellence in outdoor learning environments.” As a direct extension of the Reggio Emilia learning principles applied indoors, the outdoor learning area at King’s Baptist Grammar ELC focusses on empowering children in the confident exploration of environments through flexible and engaging experiences. Encouraging children to push their boundaries and learn through discovery and active participation, the landscape leaves room for the imagination and gives both teacher and student the opportunity to shape their space into something different each day. Catering to the diverse range of curricula offered at King’s ELC, this new outdoor learning area delivers activities that support learning through research, investigation, movement, and discovery. The education philosophy employed at King’s ELC was a key driver behind the design, with the learning landscape needing to embody contemporary education and the Reggio Emilia
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pedagogy. Responsive to this, the outdoor learning area is open and inviting, creating an environment that encourages creativity, with no prescribed activities and no right way to use the landscape. The design fosters an enriching teaching and learning experience through flexible play elements and activities that support the school’s education philosophy, promoting learning by doing and creating. Changeable natural and living systems that evolve with each season are folded into the design, expressed through productive gardens, water pools, dry creeks, and deciduous feature trees. The native planting has been selected to complement the existing landscape and placed to maximise site views of the city and coast. Fostering a connection to nature, the kitchen garden and fruit trees not only provide an educational opportunity, but also give a sense of purpose and custodianship, promoting teamwork and care through cultivated growing. “The planting of slightly advanced fruit trees in the orchard allowed us to have a crop of apricots in our first season, which are already loved and well-watered features. We use our vegetable planters
