Learning Through Play: New Playground is a Mainstay Feature For Student Success

Mayfield kicked-off the 2017-18 school year in grand fashion highlighted by a school-wide celebration of a new state-of-the-art playground and multi-activity center. Students are excited to come to Mayfield on a daily basis but the combination of the first day of the school year plus the unveiling of the new 4,600 square foot facility added extra exhilaration. View more photos/video.

Following the traditional community Morning Prayer, students, teachers, staff, members of the board of trustees and parents totaling nearly 800 people gathered in the heart of the four-acre campus to unveil the new multi-activity center. Student Council Secretary, Krish Malhotra, led the crowd in a momentous countdown, and flanked by Headmaster, Joseph Gill, and Lower School Director, Laura Kennedy, second graders Lucas Almanzan-Hunter and Sophia Mills held the honor of cutting the ribbon.

Mayfield embraces different core curriculum pillars that support and enhance each other. Specifically, physical activity has been shown to boost students' academic performance.

“Backed by conclusive academic research, we know distinct connections exist between our students’ cognitive, social, emotional and physical needs, so at Mayfield we create a fun environment where each of these needs is cared for,” noted Lower School Director, Laura Kennedy. “In everything we do, we purposefully connect each student’s mind, body and spirit, and provide opportunities for students to use their own imagination when interacting with the world around them.”

Inspired to meet the needs and wants of students, Mayfield conducted months of research to select the best design, layout and equipment choices. The result is a welcoming and safe 4,600 square foot space blending a combination of the latest climbing and balance apparatuses paired with classic swings and slides. Covered by a vaulted awning and nestled in bouncy, supportive turf, the modern playground features discovery caves, lookout decks, winding tunnels, stepping pods, contoured boulders, a cable sway link and rope ladders.

Inside and outside of the classroom, Mayfield's daily focus is to provide kindergarten to eighth grade students tools to spark deeper learning across the entire educational experience, enhance problem-solving skills and bolster creativity. This includes the opportunity for classrooms to take on different shapes and forms.

Headmaster, Joseph Gill believes play has an essential role in the overall educational growth and maturation process. Play supports academic, physical and social development for students, and inspires ingenuity and resourcefulness. “Every day our teachers do a superior job of maximizing each student's potential. We call it developing the whole child. This new playground, which acts as an exterior classroom, is just another example of how we intentionally invest in facilities that lift-up and seamlessly complement our academic programs—all for the good of our kids,” said Gill.