10 PLC in Prin t | Ma r ch 2 0 2 2
PLC i n P ri nt | D ec ember 2 0 2 1
House Concerts 2022
Early Learning Centre
House Concerts represents weeks of intense work by girls across various categories of endeavour and the leaders of various House Concert categories share their thoughts about their achievements. Stirling won the event for the first time in 10 years, with Balmoral second and Glamis third.
Senior School
House Concerts Video
Let the children play! Historically, play has been viewed as a frivolous break from important endeavours like working and learning when, in fact, a child’s ability to fully and freely engage in play is essential to their overall development. People often think of play in terms of specific ‘play activities’ such as chasey, dress ups, or playing in the sandpit. In contrast, they think of work in terms of activities like raking leaves, cooking, cleaning, or doing homework. It is the belief of early childhood teachers that any activity, as long as it is done with a playful approach, is play. In other words, it’s not about what you do, it’s about how you do it. Children from every society on earth spend time playing. From an infant’s first smile to a pre-schooler’s careful construction of a tower, children use play to engage with and learn about their world. For a small child there is no division between playing and learning; between the things they do ‘just for fun’ and things that are ‘educational’. The child learns while living and any part of living that is enjoyable is also play. All children need the opportunity to play in an unrestricted manner, to ponder, to shape and re-shape their worlds. Young children are the best audience: they are curious, enthusiastic, impulsive, generous, and pleased by simple joys. They are hopeful, open-minded, and open-hearted with a voracious hunger to understand the world in which they live. They are continuously
Rosslyn - House Spirit
acting and reacting, thinking and responding, anticipating and reflecting. The sandpit, the home corner, the block area, the nature garden, all become vehicles for learning about life, and help children develop their curiosity, concentration and persistence. When adults restrict play opportunities they reduce the powerful natural capabilities that children bring to the learning experience and, as a consequence, they take the love out of learning. Childhood is a time of celebration, a time to question, probe and investigate. At the ELC,
teachers try to create an environment for the children that treasures childhood. They are given time – time to explore, time to discover, time to interact with their peers, time to play and time to ‘just be children’. ELC teachers always endeavour to nurture the unique thoughts and skills of each child so that the natural freshness of the child’s mind never disappears, but stays with them always. Childhood should last a lifetime.
As Rosslyn House Captains, we were very proud to work with the girls to produce our Concert this year. They demonstrated amazing House spirit and we were delighted with everyone who dedicated their time, effort, imagination and talents to the performance. It is so heartening to see their passion for everything Rosslyn! Seshani, Catherine and Tulasi
Deborah Hendren Head of Early Learning Centre
Glamis — Costume It went from an initial, quirky idea in 2021 to undertake the project together, into reality in 2022 that saw us win the Costume category. The numerous video chats and shared documents with inspiration and fabric from Spotlight made this an experience we will never forget. Although there was little sleep on some nights, it was worth it to see our name at the top that had us in tears of happiness. Huge thanks to every girl that helped us out and our Captains for trusting and believing in us. Good luck and all the best for the Heads of Costumes in 2023! Joumana and Margot
Stirling — Script After bouncing ideas off one another to create our storyline, we were mentally transported to the world of our play and spent many hours discussing, sharing moments of laughter, and even some actual script writing! With Ms Garrett’s and Ms Archman’s wonderful support, we were able to translate these initial ideas into the final script. Cheryl, Faria, Caitlin, Ava and Natalie
Atholl — Singing The surreal feeling of listening to extremely talented singers bringing our original musical arrangement to life is genuinely indescribable. Although it was a work in progress at the start, our Athollite singers executed their performances beautifully. We are truly grateful for the experience. Winning the category and seeing everyone’s hard work recognised was simply the cherry on top! It was an amazing performance by every House and we look forward to singing with everyone again next year! Tiffany, Alexa and Alison
11
