We believe in children as natural learners capable of leading their own learning through their interests.

​Young children often enjoy repetition, they are practicing developmental skills until they have mastered them. Very often these repetitions have subtle differences as the child experiments and tries new ways to see what works and what does not work to perfect a range of skills they are working on. As children develop they adapt  building on previous knowledge and skills, they never start from scratch. 
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Recommended Reading

Meaningful Documentation - Australian Learning Tracks
 Meaningful Documentation based on the Reggio Emilia and Project Approach 

One of the 'frustrations' often heard is that the amount of documentation required is taking educators away from the children. In this session we will unpick what meaningful documentation looks like, who we are doing the documentation for and how documentation is used for planning children's experiences through their interests. The children take responsibility for documenting their own learning during the child-led Project Approach according to Dewey in the 1920s.

In this inspiring session we will unpick some of these challenges, with reference to the NQS and NQF, while supporting the fundamental principles of the Reggio Emilia Approach. Niki will share with us her simple framework for documentation where the emphasis is on documentation WITH and FOR children rather than ABOUT children. The Australian Learning Tracks Framework™ consists of four meaningful documents which are Australia specific, link to the NQS and meet the requirements of the NQF while supporting the fundamental principles of the Reggio Emilia Approach.
  1. The professional development day will cover: 
    •   The Reggio Emilia approach to creating child centric learning 
    •   Exciting ways to capture the voice of the child through the Project Approach
    •   Simple ways of tracking and documenting children’s learning in one document
    •   The why, what and how to documentation 
    •   Planning your own intentional teaching ​​​
Recommended Reading

Developing a Culture of Reflective Practice
Supporting educators develop new ways of thinking about their practice

High quality experiences for children don't just happen, they require a strong commitment from educators to constantly research, learn and reflect on current practice and strive to deliver the best program for children. Through this practice educators can identify potential issues and work towards overcoming them.

Critical reflection is a type of personal professional learning where educators question philosophy, ethics and practice, both as a team and personally. Critical reflection may lead to changes in practice that will advantage the children.

In this session we explore what critical reflection involves, how educators can strengthen their own professional practice through developing deeper understandings, explore concerns and raise the quality of the care and education for all children in a safe space. 

Standard 1.2: Educators and co-ordinators are focused, active and reflective in designing and delivering the program for each child. 
Element 1.2.3: Critical reflection on children’s learning and development, both as individuals and in groups, is regularly used to implement the program. 
Element 4.2.2: Educators, co-ordinators and staff members work collaboratively and affirm, challenge, support and learn from each other to further develop their skills, to improve practice and relationships. 
Standard 7.2: There is a commitment to continuous improvement.
Recommended Reading

Adventurous Play - developmentally appropriate risky play, challenging and stimulating play

Shop

STEM Detectives - Lots of innovative, practical ideas. identifying the STEM in play

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Schematic Play
Planning Through Children's Natural Investigative patterns

Many young children like to do the same thing over and over again, often things that adults find annoying and frustrating such as moving toys from the home corner to the book corner, hitting other children, throwing objects. It often comes as a relief to adults when they realise these are normal patterns of behaviour where the child is trying to make sense of their world and not the child's intention to annoy the adult! Piaget referred to these as Schemas and once we recognise these, we as adults can plan experiences and opportunities for the children to satisfy this desire to investigate instead of seeing it as something we need to stop. In this session we will explore a number of different schemas and look at how we can use schemas to plan further meaningful opportunities for children. In my view this is one of the best ways to plan for our babies and toddlers.
Suggested Resources
Loose Parts ​​
Recommended Reading

Adventurous Play - developmentally appropriate risky play, challenging and stimulating play

Shop

STEM Detectives - Lots of innovative, practical ideas. identifying the STEM in play

Shop

"But Babies don't DO anything!"
Planning and providing high quality opportunities for children Under 3.

Planning and providing experiences for our younger children is often seen as difficult with some voicing "but they don't do anything!"

Supporting the development of children under 3 is vital as this is when there is huge developmental growth. Understanding the capabilities and needs of this age group is crucial if we want to effectively support this development. Educators need to be aware of developmentally appropriate practice and provide such opportunities both indoors and outdoors.

In this inspirational session we will explore and develop an understanding of young children as investigators and how we can plan and provide for them through developmentally appropriate practice such as exploring the properties of every day natural and man made objects. We will look in depth at Treasure Baskets, Heuristic Play and Schematic Play. ​
Suggested Resources
Loose Parts