In 2010 Jeavons Landscape Architects was engaged by Robina Scott Kindergarten (Hobsons Bay Council) to design a new playspace. The kinder has been operating on the site in Ferguson Street since the 1930s and there are now over 170 children enrolled. Construction of the new garden began in November 2010 by Arcadia Landscapes, and was completed in time for the commencement of the kinder year in February 2011.
The functional aim of the new design was to create maximum play opportunities within the relatively small area and to create spaces that engage the children’s senses and imaginations.
The playspace is now a series of multi-faceted spaces with a variety of textured paths that invite exploration and activity. Paving materials such as coloured concrete, recycled red bricks, cobblestones and granitic gravel provide warm colours and textures underfoot that help give the illusion of a bigger space.
Logs, rocks, timber decks, rope fences, pea gravel digging patches, sand pits, cubbies, swings, open mulch and areas of grass provide an array of surfaces and elements on which to climb and play. Garden beds weave throughout the playspace adding fragrance, interesting textures and seasonal colour. Several water tanks harvest rainwater and allow the children to fill watering cans and water the veggie plots that have been added.
The new playspace was officially opened on Tuesday 21 June by The Hon. Wendy Lovell, MLC, Minister for Children & Early Childhood Development, who attended Robina Scott Kinder as a child herself.
