September has a particular energy in education. New children arrive, familiar faces return and freshly prepared learning spaces begin to fill with questions, relationships and possibilities.
For educators, the start of the autumn term is also a valuable moment to pause. Alongside organising resources and settling new routines, we can ask a bigger question: what do we want learning to feel like this year?
The future of education will not be created simply by introducing more activities or adding to already crowded planning documents. It will be shaped by educators who are prepared to observe more closely, think differently and respond meaningfully to the children in front of them.
This is where the Playoneering® approach offers an interesting starting point.
What is Playoneering?
Playoneering is a reflective, research-informed approach to learning through play, developed for educators working across the early years and Key Stage 1.
Influenced by enquiry-led and Reggio-inspired practice, it begins with an ‘image of the child’ as capable, curious and full of ideas. Instead of seeing children as passive recipients of a predetermined curriculum, Playoneering invites educators to recognise them as researchers and active participants in their own learning.
The approach combines joyful play with intellectual rigour. Educators observe children’s interests, questions and theories, then use those observations to create environments and experiences that deepen thinking. Planning becomes more responsive, while adults work alongside children as guides, collaborators and co-researchers.
This does not mean abandoning curriculum intentions, removing structure or allowing learning to become directionless. It means considering how those intentions can be explored through relevant questions, purposeful play, creative materials and sustained enquiry.
Beginning the autumn term with curiosity
The temptation at the start of a new academic year is to have everything decided in advance. Displays are completed, topics are mapped out and activities are planned before educators have had an opportunity to discover what fascinates the new group of children.
A Playoneering mindset suggests beginning differently.
What are the children noticing in their new environment? What questions are they asking? Which materials do they return to? Where do conversations become more animated? What theories are beginning to emerge through their play?
These observations can provide the foundations for rich learning that connects different areas of the curriculum. A child’s interest in constructing a bridge, for example, might lead to mathematical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, storytelling, drawing, scientific investigation and the development of new vocabulary.
For the autumn term, educators might consider:
- Creating spaces containing fewer but more carefully chosen open-ended materials.
- Allowing children time to revisit and develop ideas over several days.
- Recording children’s words, questions and working theories rather than documenting only finished outcomes.
- Using photographs, sketches and observations to reflect on how learning is developing.
- Planning provocations in response to children’s thinking instead of relying exclusively on adult-selected themes.
- Making time for teams to discuss what they are noticing and what it might mean.
These are manageable starting points, but they can lead to a significant shift in the culture of a classroom or setting.
The environment as an active part of learning
In Playoneering practice, the environment is not simply a backdrop. It actively shapes what children can investigate, imagine and communicate.
This makes September an ideal time to look again at learning spaces. Are resources accessible without an adult’s help? Are there places where children can work together as well as spaces for quiet concentration? Can projects remain visible and continue over time? Do the materials invite many possible responses, or is there one predetermined outcome?
An effective environment does not have to be elaborate. Its strength lies in the decisions behind it: how materials are presented, how children can combine them and whether the space communicates trust in children’s competence.
The same principles can be applied in nursery provision and primary classrooms. Although the practical expression will vary with children’s ages and curriculum requirements, curiosity, agency and deep thinking do not stop at the end of the EYFS.
From inspiration to sustained change
Introducing a new educational approach takes more than adopting a collection of attractive activities. Sustainable improvement depends upon shared understanding, reflective leadership and opportunities for educators to see principles being applied in real settings.
Little Barn Owls Forest School Nursery in Southwater provides one example of what ambitious, enquiry-led practice can look like. Following its April 2026 inspection under Ofsted’s new inspection framework, the nursery received three “Exceptional” judgements for achievement, curriculum and teaching, and leadership and governance – alongside three “Strong Standard” judgements. The full inspection record is available from Ofsted. This demonstrates what a clear and consistent educational vision can achieve. During our Playoneering Global Showcase and study tour (see details below) educators can observe this approach in practice by shadowing our Playoneering pedagogy team at a Little Barn Owls nursery. The experience will offer practical ideas that educators can adapt for their own children, communities and settings.
Seeing educators at work, examining how environments are organised and discussing the thinking behind decisions can make professional learning far more tangible. These shadowing opportunities, together with visits to Atelier 21 Future School and our flagship Little Barn Owls nursery, allow educators to explore how Playoneering principles can develop from the early years into primary education.
An opportunity to explore Playoneering in practice
Educators interested in thinking more deeply about these ideas can explore them at the Playoneering Global Showcase and Study Tour, taking place from 14–16 November 2026.
The programme offers two ways to participate. The one-day Global Showcase brings together educators, school leaders, researchers and creative practitioners for presentations, pedagogical dialogue and shared reflection. Speakers include the director of Fondazione Reggio Children, Cristian Fabbi, Professor Dr Ger Grauss OBE, Ben Kingston Hughes from Inspired Children and Hayley Peacock, founder of Playoneering.
The full three-day experience combines the one-day showcase conference, workshops and setting visits with an optional additional two-day study tour and shadowing programme.
The purpose is not to present a single formula for the future of education. It is to create space for educators to encounter different possibilities, ask challenging questions and consider which ideas might be meaningful within their own contexts.
Find out more and register your interest in the Global Showcase and Study Tour.
What could change this term?
A new direction does not always begin with a complete transformation. It might start with one altered space, one open-ended material or one staff conversation about an observation.
It might begin when an educator chooses to wait before providing an answer, giving children time to develop their own theories. It might grow through documenting a project and revisiting it with the children. Or it might emerge from a team asking whether its planning reflects children’s real questions as clearly as it reflects adult intentions.
September gives us permission to begin again. As classrooms and nurseries come back to life, it is an opportunity to think beyond preparing for the next term and towards preparing children for a future that will demand curiosity, adaptability, creativity and collaboration.
Playoneering offers one way to begin that conversation – and to turn it into thoughtful, observable practice.
