Hosting the ARNEC delegation — 43 visitors, 9 countries, one playground.

The Asia-Pacific Regional Network for Early Childhood (ARNEC) runs an annual conference that gathers ECCE leaders, ministries, UNICEF representatives, and academic institutions across the region. The 10th-edition conference in May 2024, co-hosted by the ECCE Council of Malaysia, welcomed 500+ participants from 48 countries, with 18 of those countries sending official government delegations.

The conference programme included site visits — places where delegates could see early-childhood practice operating at scale, not just hear it described in plenary sessions. WhyteHouse and WE.PLAY were selected as one of those sites, which is how 43 delegates from 9 countries ended up walking through the Sungai Nibong campus and the WE.PLAY playground over the May 27–30 window.

The delegation included Her Excellency Kim Sethany (Vice Minister, Cambodia's Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports), the Deputy Director of the Preschool Sector at the Malaysian MOE, the General Manager of Early Childhood Australia, Dr Shakya Dipu from UNICEF Nepal, a UNICEF Education Specialist, Dr Gong Jing from the University of Hong Kong, the Curator of Preschool Education from the Uzbekistan Presidential Administration, a Shaanxi Normal University delegation, government representatives from the Philippines, and lecturers from UNIRAZAK and Albukhary International University.

This is the composition that matters: not a conference networking dinner, but a working delegation of people who set early-childhood policy, design teacher-training programmes, and run ECCE research in their respective countries.

The ARNEC 2024 site visit affirmed WhyteHouse's role as more than a preschool operator. It positioned WhyteHouse and WE.PLAY as a Malaysian reference point for child-led learning, risky play, loose-parts play, and creative early-childhood practice.

For the delegation, the visit offered a chance to see ideas in motion: children engaging with real materials, teachers supporting without over-directing, and a school environment designed around confidence, independence, imagination, and social learning.

For WhyteHouse, it strengthened our belief that Malaysia has something meaningful to contribute to the regional early-childhood conversation. WE.PLAY is not only a playground within a school. It is part of a wider movement to redefine childhood through trust, freedom, and purposeful play.