February 6, 2026Hayley Peacock
Have you ever heard of Playoneering™? It is more than a method, it is a philosophy shaped by neuroscience and children’s right to learn with relevance, meaning and joy. It places the developing brain at the centre of curriculum design.
Playoneering does not end at 5 years old. It protects what matters most as children move through Key Stage 1 (5-8 Years) and into Key Stage 2 (7-11 years).
The EYFS curriculum is explicit about the conditions that enable children to thrive: learning rooted in children’s starting points, secure relationships, careful observation, partnership with families and a commitment to equity. These are not soft ideals. They are the foundations that make learning durable, transferable and meaningful.
Playoneering sits comfortably within this framework because it was born from it. Its real power, however, is revealed in what happens next.
For many children, transitions mark a sharp pedagogical shift. Play gives way to performance. Curiosity is replaced by compliance. Learning becomes something that happens to children rather than with them.
By age 7 years, this rupture is often complete. Children may be covering content, but many are no longer invested in why they are learning. Risk-taking reduces. Confidence narrows. Creativity becomes an optional extra rather than a core condition for thinking.
Playoneering was designed to prevent this.
From age 5-11 years, Playoneering carries forward the principles of the EYFS while responding intentionally to the increasing academic and curricular demands of the National Curriculum.
Children continue to be deeply known. Educators observe, listen and reflect, using evidence of learning to make purposeful teaching decisions. Assessment remains meaningful rather than reductive.
Play does not disappear. It evolves.
Provision becomes more sophisticated. Enquiries deepen. Teacher input becomes more deliberate. Explicit teaching sits alongside exploration, not in opposition to it.
This is not about removing structure. It is about using structure intelligently.
From 5-7 years, Playoneering often takes the form of carefully designed continuous and enhanced provision, purposeful provocations and enquiries rooted in real experiences.
Children might design and run a class post office to explore writing for purpose, money and systems; build and test bridges using loose parts to investigate materials, forces and mathematical reasoning; or role-play as town planners, negotiating space, resources and fairness through talk, drawing and modelling.
Phonics, writing and mathematics are taught explicitly. Crucially, they are used immediately in contexts that matter to the child.
Learning objectives are met, but they are met through meaning.
By age 7-11 years, Playoneering becomes a real-world learning stance.
Enquiry-led projects are not superficial “topics”. They are layered explorations that integrate subject knowledge, skills, values and character.
Children might work with community groups to redesign underused public spaces, applying geometry, persuasive writing and sustainability; investigate food systems through growing and selling produce, linking science, economics and data handling; explore migration through family stories and historical sources, producing work for real audiences; or design and prototype solutions to authentic problems in their school or community.
These are not optional extras.
They are vehicles for rigour.
Children still write extensively. They still calculate, reason and apply formal methods. They still learn historical timelines, scientific concepts and grammatical structures. They do so with agency, because the learning is rooted in relevance.
Across Primary (age 5-11 years), Playoneering ensures that curriculum knowledge is built through lived experience; literacy and mathematics emerge through purposeful contexts; and problem-solving, language and reasoning develop through play with intent and challenge.
This is not about holding children back.
It is about not pulling the ladder up too early.
When children are rushed into performance without meaning, learning becomes fragile. When learning grows progressively from early years principles, children develop stamina, confidence and intellectual courage.
This is why Playoneering exists: to honour early years pedagogy without freezing it in time, and to deliver a rigorous primary curriculum without sacrificing curiosity, creativity or joy.
Early years (0-5 years) lays the foundations.
Key Stage 1 (5-7 years) and Key Stage 2 (7-11 years) build from them — not over them.
Hayley Peacock – Playoneering : Protecting Play Beyond Early Years
About Hayley
Hayley Peacock is an internationally recognised educator, founder and speaker, and the creator of the Playoneering® pedagogical approach. With over sixteen years of lived practice across early years and primary education, Hayley is known for articulating the “how behind the wow” – translating rich, enquiry-led practice into clear, actionable guidance for educators. She is the founder of Atelier 21 Future School and Little Barn Owls Forest & Farm School, and the director of Hayley Peacock Education, an international research hub and CPD centre supporting educators working with children aged 0–11. Hayley’s work is informed by neuroscience, child development and children’s rights, and is authentically inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach. A regular international keynote speaker, Hayley has presented at the World Education Summit and works with schools and education systems globally. Her mission is simple and bold: *to change a million children’s lives – to start.