11 December 2024
“On the days that I don't [go to Joomunjie Land] I'm just
sitting at home doing like doing random things … if I'm at
Joomunjie Land, I'm having fun and um and running around
and just having fun and not just sitting at home doing boring
stuff…yeah it's just made me um much more happy and just
because before Joomunjie Land... I was just really bored and
tired … I just didn't feel like walking, running around or
anything.” Child 4
Eagleby South State School has enjoyed a five-year adventure in offering high quality play. The school now has three Loose Parts play spaces that ensure all children can access genuine opportunities for play. The most recent expansion of these spaces has been the child-voice project which established QLD’s first genuine Adventure Playground, Joomunjie Land. An abandoned, out-of-bounds area in the school campus was identified by the children as a place with amazing potential for play, imagination, and personal/social development.
With some funding from the school, and the support of the Australian Institute of play, Joomunjie Land emerged from the undergrowth, and is now open for play three days per week during school hours, and after school as well. We are currently attempting to open the space during holiday periods as a safe, supervised place for local children to play and meet. The deep connection and sense of belonging that this special place has engendered are evident in the local community’s strong support for what seemed at first a rather radical venture.
Just last week, the street entrance to Joomunjie, was just bustling with community members, kids on bikes, families in the council park. This is in stark contrast to the empty street and sense of danger that pervaded this part of Eagleby several years ago. The transformation that is occurring goes well beyond the Joomunjie Land fence. There is a positive shift towards gathering in shared spaces; a return to healthy community connections.
Grown-ups at all stages of life have celebrated and applauded what is really the reinstatement of real play in the lives of children today. Of the school population of just under 500, almost a third are First Nations students. And Indigenous students make up around 44% of the children regularly playing in Joomunjie Land. These are the students who have shaped and developed this play space which is now a place of real significance in the community. Fights and aggression in the school playground virtually disappeared after the establishment of Loose Parts. School behaviour data has also shown a marked reduction in serious incidents.
However, the most powerful messages and stories come directly from the children. Neurodiverse students with complex needs and/or experiences of trauma have found opportunities to excel, thrive and succeed socially. Students with debilitating anxiety, or difficulties with expressive communication, have found confidence and voice. I often think of one female neurodiverse student who began school as a small child presenting with extreme emotional dysregulation, and virtually no social connections with peers. She was able to demonstrate impressive technical and organisational skills in creating restaurants and shops in Loose Parts play, which led to her becoming a much admired, esteemed, student council member, with high academic achievement in the year of her graduation. This past week, a male Indigenous year-six student ran away from home after a serious incident. After being listed by police as a missing person for several days, he quietly returned at around five PM to Joomunjie Land, where a local trained indigenous Playworker welcomed him and was able to facilitate is return to the care of his community. It has become clear to us all that the genuine provision of play has done very serious work in our school and community.
Andrew Barnes
Principal at Eagleby South State School
