Year 3 Ascent: Students Design the Future of Play

As part of the two-day Flinders Design for Impact ASCENT event (22-23 April), students were set a challenge by our Head of Primary Mr Jason Locke:
“How might we design and construct a unique playground suitable for Primary students from Years 2 to 4 that is safe, inclusive, challenging and exciting?”

All Year 3 students had to use the human-centred Design Thinking process (empathise > define > ideate > prototype > test) to consider the needs and perspectives of others, test ideas and refine their thinking.  

To support their learning in the early ‘empathise’ and ‘define’ stages, students were visited by Andrew Brenchley, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Everything Outside, a custom playground builder. 

Mr Brenchley provided valuable insight into what goes into designing playgrounds, from safety considerations through to creating spaces that are engaging and purposeful. 

Mr Justin Hill, Primary Teacher, Enterprise and Curiosity, said, “Having Andrew visit provided authenticity and empowered our students to think like designers and see the relevance of their work.”  

Using the Flinders Performance Centre as their headquarters, the students worked in small teams to construct their playground themes. Each team was responsible for designing a specific “zone” within the playground. To build their sprawling playground prototype, students used paper, cardboard, craft, recycled items and plenty of glue, staples and sticky tape. 

The zones served different purposes across the space. Some focused on movement and physical challenge, supporting strength, coordination and active play. Others were designed as quieter spaces, giving students opportunities to connect, rest and spend time with friends.

Several groups extended their thinking further. An Indigenous Zone was designed to acknowledge and celebrate local Kabi Kabi culture, while a Technology Zone explored how powered elements could be incorporated to enhance play experiences.

The ideas developed by students were thoughtful, creative and grounded in a clear understanding of user needs. Some of these concepts will now inform the ongoing planning for the Primary Playground project as part of the Flinders Master Plan (2025-2029).

The event concluded with a special showcase for Year 3 families. Mr Hill said, “It was wonderful to have parents come along to view the designs and engage with the prototype their children had created. It was a valuable opportunity for students to share their thinking and take pride in their work.” 

Experiences like this highlight the power of giving students authentic challenges and the tools to think deeply about them and work collaboratively towards a solution that positively impacts the real world. 

It showed that when students are trusted with real problems, they rise to meet them.

Student Reflection | Beatrice R, Year 3 

“The Ascent challenge involved designing a new playground for the students in Years 2 to 4, and we created models to show our ideas. My favourite part was cooperating with my team to design and build the ‘calm zone’. We each had our own specific parts to build and at the end, I loved seeing everyone’s creations come together.

“The most challenging part of the day was finding all the materials and deciding how to use them. We had to be flexible because the materials weren't always perfect for the jobs we had in mind. The Ascent forced us to use our brains to design the playground ourselves; it wasn't up to the teachers. It allowed us to use our imaginations, and our ideas were infinite.” 

The Flinders Primary School Design Thinking Journey

At Flinders, students engage in three immersive design thinking events over their Primary School journey as part of the College’s bespoke i-Impact program, which incorporates learning in HASS, Science, Design Technologies and Digital Technologies.

The events are an exciting opportunity to practice their growing knowledge of the five stages of human-centred design thinking (Empathise, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test):  

• Design Base Camp in Year 1
• Design Ascent in Year 3
• Design for Impact Summit in Year 5 

This culminates with the Future Anything Activate program in Year 6 where students respond to the Activate challenge: “As an entrepreneur, pitch an innovative social enterprise that makes the world a better place.” 

One of the major benefits of teaching design thinking is that it encourages children to embrace iteration, encouraging them to fail forward and try again, which provides a context to support students to develop appropriate self-regulation when things don’t go to plan.

Students learn a range of valuable skills and dispositions to support design thinking through their Wonder lessons and the i-Impact curriculum. These innovative programs are bespoke to Flinders and begin from the Prep year all the way through to Year 6, helping to prepare them for the opportunities and rigour of Secondary School. 

This design thinking methodology extends into our Secondary School, for example through our Year 7 IDEAS program, the Year 9 Year to RISE program and throughout our Infinity Centre.