OPAL PLAY

What do visitors see first when they walk through the gates? A parking lot. For years, the ASM experience for families, students, staff, and visitors has been the walk across the bus parking area. That is all about to change.

The underground parking for staff under the new Middle School and the relocated bus pick-up and drop-off area have given us a unique opportunity to transform the large area used for parking in the past into a space for outdoor learning and play. Our goal is not just to make a great playground but to create one of the best examples of its kind in Europe and make ASM a model for the integration of play in the learning environment and the learning experience.

More and more research is pointing to the role of play in learning and work. Play is not just for kids, play is the way we approach new ideas, materials, and situations. Play is a complex set of skills that combine to make a context for wonder, creativity, and imagination. Play is the application of creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration. Play is the mechanism for developing new solutions and imagining new ways of being and doing. With the help of leading UK-based play consultancy OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning), ASM leaders have been working to understand how well-planned play areas can enhance students’ emotional, mental, and physical development.

What Next?

ASM’s Lower School Playground project is a researchgrounded initiative that will:

Our learning has reinforced the importance of play in fostering individual resilience, confidence, and learning capacity.

Institute a training program to instruct faculty across grades and assist ASM administration in the education of parents and other stakeholders on the critical value of play to students

Include portable, recycled/reengineered materials and features guided by nature

Maximize children’s exposure to a wide variety of natural processes and materials, encouraging improvisation and invention

Provide a high-quality, purposefully-designed Lower School play space to transform the quality of play offered to generations of ASM children We are extremely excited about this initiative as it will transform not only a parking lot but bring play and the joy of childhood into the heart of the ASM elementary school experience.