The Purple Elephant 39

Our children, aged eighteen months to three years, engage in meaningful play and learning in a playground created especially for them, one that reflects the time when The Purple Elephant was first conceived. For children who have the privilege of playing in such an environment, it is a comfortable transition to ‘The City School’ located just around the corner – and what a delight it is to see our oldest graduates returning with their own children and reliving the experience they had when they themselves were young.

An endearing house filled with the history and charm of old Bangkok, the school exudes comfort, and the tradition of bygone days is palpable within the walls of this old colonial home that has been so lovingly restored for her young inhabitants.

Here our children, aged eighteen months to three years, engage in meaningful play and learning in a playground created especially for them. This environment makes for a comfortable transition to ‘The City School’ located just around the corner – and what a delight it is to see our oldest graduates returning with their own children and reliving the experience they had when they themselves were young.

We respond to the curious nature of young children by providing them with rich experiences that encourage a ‘sense of wonder’. With wondering comes discoveries that the children eagerly share with one other, their teachers, and their families. They come to see themselves as part of an interactive world where they can build a rich and meaningful community with connections between home and school, and the world beyond. We believe that every child is born with the many languages of life, and that these languages are interactive by nature. The children are given many opportunities to investigate their ideas through these languages, making sense of their world, and sharing their perceptions with their friends.

Our environment – a thoughtful, creative and wonder-filled environment – fuels the young child’s learning and imagining. The beautiful and inspiring spaces, both inside and out, are purposefully designed to encourage natural exploration, and heighten the curiosity of those fortunate enough to inhabit these environs. Exploring the variety of materials set out as intentional provocations, the children are given opportunities to investigate their ideas, inviting inquiry, dialogue and co-construction, and allowing the children to deepen and expand their knowledge.

Children who are members of a nurturing, collaborative community of young inquirers develop a sense of belonging, and an understanding of their own identity, voice and feelings that leads to optimal development and learning. This, and the relationships they form with aesthetically pleasing settings, their teachers and families, becomes the foundation for life-long learning that embraces fair-mindedness, inclusion, and the cultural values and practices embedded in every environment they encounter.

Each child brings to school unique life experiences that are respected for their diversity, and all are considered to be brimming with potential – potential that is supported by an approach to teaching that takes full advantage of the physical space to develop mental and physical abilities as well as the foundational knowledge required for later literacy and numeracy.

Purposeful play, one of the most effective ways young children learn, capitalises on the child’s natural curiosity, joy, and sense of wonder. Play here is child-centred, engaging, and enhances development in all the domains: physical, social, emotional, communicative and cognitive.