When I started planning Wirrigirri Primary School, one of my strongest convictions was that play had to matter. Not as something reserved for the early years or tacked on to the end of a busy week, but as a serious and intentional part of learning from day one.

In those first months of designing our curriculum and learning environments, I kept returning to one simple truth: play is the heart of childhood. It is how children learn about themselves, others, and the world. So if schools exist to nurture learning, then play deserves to sit firmly at the centre of what we do.

Recently, we had several visitors ask to come and see play in action at Wirrigirri. To be honest, I found it a little nerve-racking. In the current political climate, where the loudest voices are calling for a “back to basics” approach, play is not exactly the flavour of the month. The irony, of course, is that schools never abandoned the basics. Every principal and teacher I know works tirelessly to teach children how to read, write, and understand the world around them. But if we are going to talk about the basics, then surely play belongs there too. Play builds the foundations for language, problem solving, social understanding, and emotional regulation. These are the things that sit underneath every so-called basic.

Research continues to remind us that play is not the opposite of learning. It is the context that makes learning meaningful and lasting. Zosh et.al (2018) describe play as existing along a spectrum, from free play to guided play. Guided play occurs when adults intentionally design environments or experiences that support learning while children maintain choice, joy, and curiosity. This balance between agency and structure is where deep learning takes place. Children are active and engaged, experimenting, collaborating, and making meaning while feeling safe to take risks and make mistakes.

Australian research by Meeuwissen, Hesterman and Barblett (2025) reinforces that play remains vital in the early years when it is intentional, well planned, and connected to curriculum. That is exactly what we have set out to do at Wirrigirri.

Our Play Curriculum Framework is heavily influenced by Harvard’s Pedagogy of Play research, which explores how schools can build cultures of playful learning. The principles of playfulness, choice, wonder, and agency are woven throughout our approach. Our framework outlines how every experience connects to the Victorian Curriculum, the Wirrigirri Capabilities, and each term’s Learning Pathway. Every space, every material, and every routine is chosen with care to spark curiosity, collaboration, and creativity.

Our Kin Teachers work together to design weekly play sequences that align with learning goals while leaving room for children’s imagination to take the lead. They observe, document, and respond, adjusting the environment or their interactions based on what they see. This is the professional artistry of teaching through play: knowing when to step in, when to stand back, and how to turn children’s ideas into powerful learning opportunities.

Many of our youngest learners begin school without having attended kindergarten or preschool. For them, play has been a bridge into school life, a way of learning how to learn. Through play, they have developed confidence, social connection, and the language of belonging. Play has also been particularly powerful for children who speak English as an additional language. In play, communication goes beyond words. Gestures, shared actions, and imagination allow children to connect, collaborate, and express ideas long before their English vocabulary develops. We see this every day as children build, pretend, negotiate, and create meaning together. Their play tells us more about what they understand than any early assessment ever could. It is a reminder that learning is not always visible on paper first.

Our commitment to play does not mean we do not value more formal or ‘traditional’ learning. In fact, explicit teaching is an integral part of our pedagogical model. We teach phonics, reading, writing, and mathematics with precision and purpose, ensuring that every child builds strong foundational knowledge and skills. The difference is that at Wirrigirri, this explicit teaching sits within a broader learning design that also values exploration, creativity, and meaning making. Play and explicit teaching are not in competition. They work together. Each is intentional and rigorous in its own way, and both help children grow into confident, capable learners.

We often talk about our approach as intentional play. It is joyful and child led, but also deeply planned, scaffolded, and reflective. Behind every block tower, every imaginative role play, and every sensory exploration is careful thinking about language development, social connection, fine motor growth, or problem solving. Leading a school where play is taken seriously takes courage. It means trusting the research, yes, but also trusting our teachers and what we know about children. It means being comfortable with a bit of noise, mess, and magic, because real learning is rarely tidy.

Visitors often comment on the hum in our Learning Communities, the way children are engaged, purposeful, and absorbed in what they are doing. That is not accidental. It comes from careful design and thoughtful pedagogy. It is what happens when teachers see themselves not as supervisors of play, but as designers of it.

At Wirrigirri, we do not defend play. We define it. For us, it is intentional, relational, and essential. If we want to talk about the basics, then we need to start with play. It is where learning begins, and at Wirrigirri, that is where our story began too. Play continues in all weather, through every season, and in every corner of our school. That story, though, is one for another day…

~ Bec

References:

Meeuwissen, D., Hesterman, S., & Barblett, L. (2025). Does play belong in primary schools? Australian teachers’ perspectives. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 50(1), 1–15. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/18369391241248825

Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education. (2024). Pedagogy of Play: Cultivating playful learning in schools. The LEGO Foundation & Harvard GSE. https://pz.harvard.edu/projects/pedagogy-of-play

Zosh, J. M., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Hopkins, E. J., Jensen, H., Liu, C., Neale, D., Solis, S. L., & Whitebread, D. (2018). Accessing the inaccessible: Redefining play as a spectrum. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1124. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01124