The New Bayview Play Area: Beyond the Classroom
A Space to Play, Explore and Just Be
There’s a moment, standing at the top of Mentone Grammar’s expansive Bayview Precinct, where the view out over the bay catches you off guard. Below, a winding garden path termed ‘Warrigal Way’ curves down through native plantings, rocks, and terraced seating. Further along, a full-size covered basketball court hums with activity. And somewhere in between, students are doing what students do best running, resting, discovering, and simply being.
More Than a Play Space
The Bayview Precinct redevelopment transformed what was once a collection of old houses and concrete driveways into a rich, multi-layered outdoor environment primarily supporting students from Foundation – Year 8. At its core is Naples Green an extensive grass area purpose-built for unstructured play. Unlike the School’s oval or formal courts, this space is intentionally open for all kinds of play from team sports to a lunchtime kick-about, or PE lessons outside, the space adapts to the needs of the students. Alongside Naples Green sits a full-size covered basketball court together with a multi-play basketball court offering 6 half courts. Built to accommodate a full-sized court for popular lunchtime play, as well as basketball practice, PE, and junior competitions, while meeting the daily demand of students who simply love the game.
“Now that the court is built, there’s a lot more area to roam around and a lot of us play basketball and talk with our friends.” – Nick P (Year 7)
A Garden Unlike Any Other
What sets this project apart, is the thoughtful design and carefully considered garden. Warrigal Way, the winding path and garden is one of the only purpose-designed mindfulness and wellbeing gardens at a school in the state. But it’s far from a passive ornamental space. Designed from the ground up, it’s an active learning environment, a place where teachers bring classes to relax, explore nature, and decompress.
The concept draws on the idea of a backyard: the kind of informal, slightly wild space where children can engage freely, away from the structured formality of classrooms and corridors. Warrigal Way winds down nearly three metres of fall through a series of terraces, each offering a different experience and a different-sized gathering spot from a solitary bench tucked among the plants to the open ‘Yarning Circle’ at the top, designed for whole-class gatherings, celebrations, and reflection. Spaces like these matter more than they might appear. Sitting in a circle, there is no hierarchy, just students talking, listening and connecting with one another and the world around them.
“I love to sit near the top of the garden sometimes because it’s very quiet, and it’s still an open space so you can still see everyone and feel a part of it. It’s just a quiet space to sit down with your friends.” – Mackenzie S (Year 8)
The path is fully wheelchair accessible throughout, a design choice that also benefits anyone on crutches or nursing an injury. Seating ranges from formal tables to rocks and grassy embankments because not everyone wants the same thing from a space.
Bringing Nature Back
The planting palette tells its own story. Around 75% of the plants are indigenous, species occurring locally in this specific part of Victoria, the same vegetation that once covered the land before the houses, before the farms, and even before European settlement. The remaining plants include broader native species and a small number of exotic specimens chosen deliberately: ornamental pears along the outer edges, whose deciduous canopy will shade students in summer and let winter sun through to warm the grass beneath.
The upper section of Warrigal Way has been designed as a pollinator garden, drawing butterflies and native bees, into the School environment. Banksia from the local beach adds colour and depth while different rocks throughout the garden include slate from Castlemaine, mudstone matching the cliffs of Port Phillip Bay and sandstone from Red Hill, opening up geology as a living classroom. Seasonal colour and texture shifts throughout the year and there is always something new to notice.
“We see lots of bird life generally around the native garden. And being around nature is very soothing.”
Caitlin W (Year 7)
The water systems are just as considered. Two rain gardens filter stormwater from across the site, removing pollutants before the water reaches the nearby bay. Wood chip mulch comes from commercially composted green waste. Leftover pavers from an earlier School project destined for landfill were repurposed into the new paving, giving the precinct its distinctive two-tone ground surface. There is even easy access to a new toilet block which has been designed to fit seamlessly into the space.
The Shade Shelter: Where Things Happen
At the heart of the active precinct sits the Shade Shelter, a striking curved fabric tension structure that covers a large gathering and collaboration area. The curve isn’t just aesthetic; it’s structural, allowing the wide span to be covered with minimal steelwork and a lightweight waterproof fabric membrane.
Seating here is designed to double as a teaching space with infinite possibilities from team meetings to parent gatherings and alumni reunions.
“It’s very calming, it’s not generally packed, and it’s a good place to stop and rest.” – Nick P (Year 7)
Designed for Everyone, All at Once
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the new play area is how many things it does simultaneously and how little you notice the effort behind it. Nick and Mackenzie don’t know each other especially well. But they gave almost identical answers when asked what they love about the space, which perhaps says everything.
“It’s an open space where everyone is welcome. No matter what you’re interested in, if you want to play basketball or netball, or if you just want to sit down or play footy, there are spaces for everyone.” – Nick P (Year 7) & Mackenzie S (Year 8)
A teacher might be standing at the top of the garden, watching over the effortless movement of kids enjoying the space. Half an hour later, and there could be 50 kids participating in a PE lesson, or 100 kids playing a variety of games and having a ball at lunchtime. That’s the idea. Explore. Experience. Enjoy!
Author: Astrini Kopeloudi – Wallace
Mentone Grammar would like to acknowledge Craig Eldridge, Registered Landscape Architect, for sharing his knowledge and expertise about the project, and Bayview students Caitlin W, Curtis E, Mackenzie S and Nick P for sharing their experience.
