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Play School (Australian TV series)

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Play School is an Australian educational television show for children produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It is the longest running children's show in Australia, and the second longest running children's show worldwide, after Blue Peter.

An estimated 80% of pre-school children under six watch the programme at least once a week. It is screened three times each weekday on ABC Kids, at 9 am, 11:30 am and 3:30 pm (from 7 July 2014) and twice daily each weekend at 9 am and 3:30 pm.

In 2006, Play School was admitted to the Logies' Hall of Fame. The program celebrated 50 years of broadcasting in 2016. Many of the presenters remained with the series for lengthy periods, including  Don Spencer (31 years), Benita Collings (30 years), John Hamblin (29 years), Alister Smart, (25 years), Noni Hazlehurst (23 years), John Waters (19 years) and Jan Kingsbury (15 years). While the show is written by preschool education experts, the presenters are all trained actors or musicians who can connect well with the target audience.

History

Play School began production in 1966 based on the original British version of Play School. The first Australian Play School episode was transmitted on 18 July of that year. It has been produced continuously from this time. It has launched the careers of several Australian actors and television presenters. It was admitted to the Logies Hall of Fame on its 40th anniversary in 2006. This was in recognition of the strong influence the show has had in at least three generations of Australian children. Play School was the third show to enter the Hall of Fame in its own right, after Four Corners (1992) and Neighbours (2005).

During the presentation of the Logie Awards, a package showing memorable scenes from the show throughout its history was shown, before notable presenters (from past and present) came onto the stage with some of the favourite toys from the show. After these presenters accepted the award, the audience then joined them for a stirring rendition of the Play School Theme.

On 31 May 2004 a segment was shown showing what was taken by the public to be two lesbians taking their child and her friend to an amusement park. A little girl narrated the clip, stating "My Mums are taking me and my friend Merryn to an amusement park." The clip was raised as controversial by the media, and three federal ministers expressed dislike over the screening of the clip. The ABC responded however, saying that "Play School aims to reflect the diversity of Australian children, embracing all manner of race, religions and family situations." The producers of the segment also said the segment showed the girl being accompanied by her birth mother and her step mother (hence "two mums") and they believed most people would automatically assume the same.

In 1992, a through the windows segment featured an early performance by the Australian children's musical group The Wiggles performing the songs Get Ready To Wiggle and Rock-A-Bye-Your-Bear at a play care centre.

Format

In 2000, the show had a massive revamp, with the Rocket and Flower Clocks and the three windows put in storage in favour of a newer-style Play School. The main clock was now simply called the Play School Clock, which was controlled by one of the presenters standing at the top of the clock and turning a winding device, which caused the clue to the story to slide down a slippery dip. That was soon replaced by the Hickory Dickory Clock which featured clockwork resembling the Hickory Dickory nursery rhyme. That was soon replaced by the Train Clock which resembles a train station with a clock above it. The windows were also heavily changed. They were now built into a massive rotating prop which was built underneath the clock (shown one week) and 'controlled' by one of the presenters pulling a lever back and forwards. The windows (now including a diamond window) would spin around and would slowly be eliminated as the window they would look through until they got to the fourth window and the camera would slowly zoom in and fade out into the fill. The order in which they appear is Square~Diamond~Round~Arched. That was soon replaced by windows with animation where Jemima stands next to the round window, Little Ted stands next to the square window, Big Ted stands next to the diamond window and Humpty stands next to the arched window and the window chosen goes through to pre-recorded footage. They then changed it to CGI craft-like animation where each window shakes and there are assorted theme tunes for the windows.

Awards and nominees

Bold means won

Italic means Nominated

Logie Awards: Most Outstanding Children's Program:

  • 1992 - Play School (Lost to Agro's Cartoon Connection)
  • 1993 - Play School (Lost to Agro's Cartoon Connection)
  • 1996 - Play School (Lost to Agro's Cartoon Connection)
  • 1998 - Play School (Won)
  • 2004 - Play School (Lost to Hi-5)
  • 2006 - Play School (Logies Hall of Fame)
  • 2014 - Play School (Lost to Nowhere Boys)

ARIA Awards Best Children's Album:

  • 1995 - Oomba Baroomba (Lost to The Wiggles, Big Red Car)
  • 1997 - In the Car (won)
  • 2000 - Hullabaloo (Lost to Hi-5, Jump And Jive With Hi-5)
  • 2003 - Hip Hip Hooray (Lost to Hi-5, Celebrate)
  • 2011 - Let's Play Together (Lost to The Wiggles, Ukulele Baby)
  • 2015 - Favourite Things - Song and Nursery Rhymes from Play School (Lost to Sam Moran - Play Along with Sam, BOO!)
  • 2016 - Famous Friends: Celebrating 50 Years of Play School (Lost to The Wiggles, Wiggle Town)

Albums

Toys

Teachings

From the inception of the programme, the producers of Play School have made efforts to promote equality, playful education, and a love of learning in its audience. Working on Play School has come to be considered an unusually demanding and important job for some actors, because they feel they are becoming part of a generation of children's lives and providing a foundation for learning things that will last for life.

Play School's stated philosophy is to encourage a child 'to wonder, to think, to feel and to imagine'. The duo (sometimes a trio when joined by hearing impaired actress Sofya Gollan) of presenters (now almost always a male/female pairing, but has previously been two females or two males) address the child directly and personally, so that every child watching the show feels that they are spending time with two people they know and can trust.

Into this relationship are woven the stories, songs, and activities that form the fabric of Australian children's culture. Play School is successful because it satisfies our basic human need to interact with other people and to be valued by them.

Songs

Theme Song

The theme song was composed by prominent Australian composer Richard Connolly.

There's a bear in there
And a chair as well
There are people with games
And stories to tell
Open wide, come inside
It's Play School.

Presenters

Current presenters

Former presenters

Current Spin-offs

Former Spin-offs

Apps

Gallery

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