September Education News

Inviting 2027-2028 enquiries

Polyglot’s curriculum-aligned in-school programs empower students to harness their creativity and express themselves through immersive participation. We are currently inviting enquiries from schools who are interested in working with us in 2027-2028.  

Our minimum engagement is one week, and we are open to longer arrangements, such as 1-2 days a week across a term. Being in residence over an extended period means we can connect across year levels, or ideally with whole school communities, ensuring deep impact and exchange.

Art Tree: Early learning – Year 6
A gentle, creative Play Space with natural materials and markers. Find your magic, connect through colour, and draw – everywhere! 

Cubbyhood: Early learning
A playful, creative project with children ages 2-4 that investigates the experience of home, family and community from their perspective. 

Left: Cubbyhood. Photo: Suzanne Phoenix. Right: Art Tree. Photo: Sarah Walker.
Feature: Sound Shadows. Photo: Steph O’Hara.

Paper Planet: Early learning – Year 6, Specialist
A highly interactive and universally accessible experience, facilitating free play, making costumes and creatures, and manipulating paper.

Wish Street: Years 3 – 6
Celebrating the unique, powerful intersection of theatre-making & family mental health awareness through world-building & play.

When the World Turns: Specialist
A fantastical experience for young people with complex disability & their educators, leading participants into a sensory state of mind & body.

Bespoke: Early learning-Year 6, Specialist
Polyglot can work with you to develop a bespoke, curriculum-aligned program for your school community. 

Experience Paper Planet

If you are interested in bringing Polyglot to your school, please join us at our upcoming September school holiday season of Paper Planet. Presented by Fed Square as part of RESET – a free festival for growing and grounding – a forest of tall cardboard trees will fill The Edge. Children and families are invited to explore and then add to this strange and delicate place using only paper, tape and their imaginations. Performers roam, and theatre and play merge as creatures, plants, costumes, characters, stories and adventures spring to life.

28 Sep – 2 Oct. These sessions are free and drop-in, no bookings required. However, there may be a short wait to enter the performance space if the session is full. Auslan interpreter Nicole McRae will be at both performances on Wednesday 30 September.

Paper Planet production photos. Left: Ai Ueda. Right: Sarah Walker.

Empowering children

Polyglot’s professional development workshops are designed for educators and practitioners who work with children. Either in-person or online, they introduce our distinctive philosophy and process, and focus on child-led practice; how the adult can facilitate authentic agency and become the learner, participant and observer. We are still taking bookings for 2026 – please get in touch to enquire further. 

In June, we delivered an expert workshop for The Connection, an initiative of The Smith Family Australia, as part of their second 2026 Thought Leadership Gathering (TLG), ‘Beyond Consultation: Recentering child voice and rights in schools and early learning.’ The session was held for the Early Years network of The Connection, which is led by The Smith Family and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. Facilitated by Cat Sewell and Emily Tomlins, and bringing together staff from early years community centres, schools, and services across Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Queensland, it was a wonderful opportunity to share practice and perspective. 

“Taking care of each other” 

In June, Polyglot was honoured to open Theater der Welt in Chemnitz, Germany with Paper Planet. Following the season, the Polyglot team carefully transferred the Paper Planet set to Terra Nova Campus, a local school for young people with disability. Across 12 sessions, nearly 300 students and educators created and played among the cardboard trees.

“One session was two classes of 6-8 year olds with a broad variety of mobility and communication modes. It was a great example of what we saw right across the week – students helping one another with communication, physical tasks, movement and generally taking care of each other in a relaxed and natural way… The teachers and staff were all really engaged and generous and assisted in facilitation.” Artist workshop report

International touring and collaborations are integral to Polyglot’s activity. Deep creative exchange across countries and continents shapes our work, our understanding of our audience, and impacts our artists in profound ways. Read more here.

“The options for participation are infinite”

“The ritual of theatre and the ritual of school are both pretty all-encompassing ones, they are also based around learning and understanding. They both take place in communal spaces created for that singular purpose and I would argue that both school and theatre are incredible ways to get a sense of societal temperature.”

Zak Pidd is one of Polyglot’s Generator artists who has delivered both Paper Planet and When the World Turns extensively in specialist and special development schools. We asked them to create an artistic reflection about this work – read more here.

When the World Turns production photos. Left: Suzanne Phoenix. Right: Sarah Walker.

Thank You

This season of Paper Planet is presented by Fed Square and supported by the City of Melbourne.

Polyglot Theatre’s 2026 Germany tour has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.

When the World Turns: disability inclusive theatre in schools is a collaboration between Polyglot Theatre (AUS) and Oily Cart (UK), commissioned by Arts Centre Melbourne and generously supported by the Cassandra Gantner Foundation. The 2025 schools tour is further supported by Arts Centre Melbourne and the Victorian Department of Education Strategic Partnerships Program, Mr Mark Robertson OAM and Mrs Anne Robertson, Maureen and Tony Wheeler, Gandel Foundation, Bec Wilkinson, Wendy Kozica. Polyglot thanks our ongoing plant sponsor ecoDynamics, and SÜK Workwear.