New Playground Brings a World of Opportunities

"Let's Play!" are words you hear on the kindergarten playground at Seisen International School daily. 'Play' was introduced as a year-long unit of inquiry (UOI) in the Primary Years Programme (PYP) programme of inquiry (POI) during the last academic year and what a year of play has it been for us! As the IB states, "Children are natural inquirers from birth; they have the capacity to learn about, interact and interpret the world around them". Play is always intentional. Through play, oral language, social, emotional and physical skills are developed in conjunction with the different forms of play.

Last year, the kindergarten division of our school embarked on an exciting journey of overhauling the 'Little Tikes' play structure to modernise and provide a non-prescriptive environment where children can engage in play and grow at their own pace. Different play structures were considered and researched and finally, it was decided that a state of the art, KOMPAN play structure would be the choice for us. The superior quality of KOMPAN play structures set new standards for what a playground can offer and KOMPAN sees 'play as nothing short of fundamental to a better life'. What was really striking was the climbing net requiring children to cross their hands over which increase the connectivity between the right and left hemispheres of the brain. The platforms of different heights strengthen muscles used in climbing and jumping but also develop skills such as depth perception, risk assessment and an understanding of one's own abilities and limitations. All these aspects stimulate our children's development in such holistic ways and we have been delighted with what our new play structure offers.

Take a quick tour from a child's point of view.

Our children love the new playground and the world of opportunities that have opened up for them. The smiles on their faces are unparalleled. The use of language in turn-taking, cooperative play, imaginative play and parallel play has been remarkable. The confidence levels have increased as children assess what they can do and constantly challenge themselves to scale new heights. The physical, cognitive and social-emotional development of the children in Seisen International School continues to be a focus and what better way for us to do so than through our newly built playground.

Thank you to all our parents for their efforts, generosity and support. We at Seisen International School would like to acknowledge all who made our new playground possible as we continue to watch our children play, grow, learn and develop over the years!

Thank you to our Donors

While many donations were assigned to the General Fund for school to decide, the following donors specified their fund be used for the KG Playground Renewal Project. We have sent individual thank you letters to the donors but would like to acknowledge the following:

The KG Playground Renewal Project

Multiple Anonymous Donors
Mr. and Ms. Bamba
Mr. Junichi Fujimoto
Mr. Chen Gao
Mr. Masakazu Hirabayashi
Mr. Man Chun Liong
Mr. Shimma Masamune
Mr. Takuro Nishimura
Mr. Sei Sato
Mr. Ryo Takahashi
Mr. Zhitao Wang
Mr. Erjin Wei
Mr. T Richard Yamamoto
Mr. Hanxiao Zhou