The Competency of Children - excellent article from teachreggio.org

Click here

Music at the Playeum, Singapore

Good times with our DJ, Johan and Zara at the Playeum - a child-centred discovery centre in Singapore opened in September 2015 and which strongly identifies itself with the Reggio Emilia approach. This is a place where children's freedom of expression and inquiry is celebrated and where four year olds can use hot glue guns. I would recommend to anyone. We got membership the minute they opened and had a lot of fun over the year watching the concept be 'sold' to Singaporean parents. As the Spanish say: poco a poco. The Playeum might be Singapore's salvation!

Take a look at their website to see how they structure their learning opportunities/ ateliers.

Sudbury Schools - Environment

We're really curious about Sudbury Schools. Having gone to a strict boarding school where we marched into meals, the thought of a Sudbury School delights us - the anarchy!

But would we want to work in one, and most importantly - would we want to send our daughter to one, or even more importantly, would she want to go to one?!

So, why are we hesitating?

Before we discover any more about Sudbury Schools, what are our preconceptions?

Environment

We are absolutely onboard for grown ups stepping back but the environment and how it is set up is a powerful source of learning - does anyone control the environment in a Sudbury School?

For example, do kids come in on a Monday morning to find a milking cow in the grounds, or a million ping pong balls piled up in the rec room? (Or have we just come up with a brilliant new concept school!)

What resources are the kids given? What provocations?

This photo from the newly opened La Rosa de los Vientos Sudbury School near Madrid made us wonder - not to say that kids couldn't do a lot already with this space but would it keep them going for 7 years? What else does Sudbury add, or is that the brilliant point - they don't, the kids do?

We were blown away during our ISN project with the many different ways in which the children were exploring the relatively small amount of big and small loose parts (see below) that we'd made available to them. We know that they were not getting those learning opportunities before we put those loose parts there because we watched they play before and after. That said, we know that even in the most barren playground, children will find something to do. Our parents argument today is of course 'When I was a child, you had one stick and were told to come back when it got dark'. Where is the happy balance? Also, the ISN kids didn't bring the loose parts in themselves - small ones yes but big ones no. Do Sudbury kids arrive at school on Monday morning with cartwheels and car tyres? And if so, how brilliant!

Freedom

If this isn't what it's all about, then I don't know what is! Today Indigo, Annabel and Sam lifted all our spirits when they danced and played in the (albeit quite attractive) dirt in the restaurant car park. It symbolises for me the need to step back as much as possible, quietening the practical voice in your head that tells you this is going to take time to clean up and 'are the owners watching?'. Because a child who is free to do what children do raises everyone's spirit - this is the human spirit undistllled.