ABSTRACT
The previous chapters have explained how the new ways of working are evolving at Fishergate over time. So far, we have focussed on vignettes that involve children playing with their peers. By studying the children as they coengage in these self-selected, shared spaces we begin to gain more explicit insights into their playful learning and into how children turn open-ended spaces into places where they can be ‘whatever they want to be’; to purposefully engage with their own experiences and memories. The vignettes have allowed us to illustrate and explore how the children's play themes and preoccupations are connected with their wider cultural experiences from within and outside school, and also how they are linked with their own emerging sense of individuality, personality and interests. We have seen that these interests are sustained by the children, through their play, over days and weeks if observers are able to discern this and if materials are available to facilitate this.
