Clairmont Campus, Clifton School

Two interlinked philosophies drove the design of play and learning settings and their implementation on the ground: permaculture principles, underpinning the ecological health and sustainability of the site and helping children to read those attributes; and the Reggio Emilia philosophy of education, stressing children’s control over their own learning processes, learning through direct experience of themselves and their physical surroundings, and being exposed to a multitude of expressive possibilities – all of which can be strongly supported by a rich, natural outdoor environment. For reflections on the Reggio Emilia approach see the presentation by Peter Moss (2004).