Landscapes of Change

By Claire Bartlett, Deputy Head of Junior School, Campbell House Our Landscapes of Change project, which began in 2018 with the provocation “what is change?”, has continued through into this year. We began 2019 with the provocation of “how does change affect identity?”. Staff were excited by our new question as we knew that it had scope to go deep and open avenues to explore our identity in different settings such as self, family, groups, school and communities. Educators documented the children’s responses and from their interpretation of the material, all of the year level projects have gone in different directions while maintaining common threads.

EL3 has looked at the connections with identity and image of self. Children looked at themselves as individuals, saw themselves in different ways and represented their image using a variety of materials. They discussed differences and similarities of everyone within the group. EL3B discovered physical changes and moved towards finding out about emotional changes and a sense of belonging. EL3A responded to different images of children from around the world. They have acknowledged Aboriginal culture by embedding it into their project through storytelling and music. EL4’s project is centred around the question “where are we in the world?”. Students have been sharing their travel experiences and what they know about different cultures. They used Google Maps to look at the world and then zoomed into where we are in the world. The children then began to have a strong interest in mazes, incorporating mazes into their play and creating a collaborative maze. In Term 2, they extended on their understandings by going on an excursion to Barrabool Maze.

The Preps have explored their identity at school and how they learn. A visit from a bull ant, at the same time that “ant” was their word of the week, created a lot of interest. The Preps discovered that bull ants share some traits with humans and imagined the possible lives and identities of the ants living under our school at a time of change. The children have been guessing what it’s like for ants under the ground, especially for those who have the redevelopment happening right above them. The Preps worked in teams to design and create an ant colony within the learning space.

Nieve showing Mrs Bartlett the items in her identity box.

Year 1 students’ understanding of identity is that “who you are” is so much more than just what you look like. The Year 1s created identity boxes and presented the boxes to their peers to help discover each individual’s unique identity, ultimately resulting in the strengthening of relationships. Their project then headed in a scientific direction, looking at how animals change over time and how this affects their identity. For example, how a caterpillar changes into a butterfly.

Year 2s also created identity boxes and enjoyed sharing what helps shape their identity and who they are. “I am Arabic, my background is from Iraq. I can speak Arabic and Iraqi foods are kebabs. We celebrate Eid and we get lots of presents, we also celebrate New Year with my family,” Deyar from 2A said.

In addition to this, they have been developing theories about “what is culture?” and recognised that there are similarities and differences between different cultures, while some cultures have traits unique only to them. The students were encouraged to attend Pako Festa to develop their understanding of the importance of embracing culture and celebrating cultural diversity. Parents and family members have been invited into the learning spaces to share their cultural background and what culture means to them. “A culture is being different; being different is awesome. Each country has its own unique way of having a culture, otherwise we would be the same and it would be so boring. What makes up a culture is dances, language, costumes, food, songs and celebrations.” – 2A. Year 3 started with the question, “how do we know who we are?”. The children’s responses included concepts such as experiences, your name, where you live, culture and personality. “Personality is who you are. It shapes out every second of your life. It makes you you,” Abbey from 3B said. The project has evolved with a geography focus, titled “Stories of our Land”. Students are investigating what is a city, country and continent, and the different cultures across these places. Our Landscapes of Change project was part of the Arts Festival Learning Exhibition in May. Julie Bickett, Christie Barrett and I collaborated to use the project fodder to create a representation of our project. Acknowledgement must be given to our staff for providing such rich material for the exhibition.

This year has been a year of big change at Campbell House, and one of those changes has been the introduction of Houses from Prep. The House system is steeped in tradition and we were thrilled that our students would deepen their sense of belonging and their identity within a group. Students have been participating in House Connection events such as Meet and Greet, and History of the Houses. Once students learnt the history of their House, they brainstormed and discussed what their House should feel, sound and look like. Words such as brave, warrior, caring, strong and respect shone through. There is already a strong House spirit and it is evident that relationships across the school are strengthening.