REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER
Dee’s Message
18TH MARCH 2022
Dear Parents and Caregivers, The Early Years Framework reminds us that “Play provides opportunities for children to learn as they discover, create, improvise and imagine. When children play with other children they create social groups, test out ideas, challenge each other’s thinking and build new understandings.” At the heart of all we do in the ELS is a focus on play. As I watch the teachers and children interacting with each other it often strikes me that even their attitudes towards life and towards each other have a playful, exuberant spirit. And so it should be in an early learning environment. While we are always conscious that underlying this play is also a focus on learning and on preparation for further education, more often than not true learning takes place in the unintended spaces of discovery, exploration and creativity which bubble out of the children each day. While there are many ways to play – and each child has his or her own favourites – one which seems to have an almost universal
appeal is construction play. We might presume, given the often deeply entrenched biases which most of us have, that boys tend more towards this form of play. However, that is most certainly not the case in the ELS, where girls love constructing spaces and placing objects onto each other just as much as the boys do. It is also true that one also only has to leave children alone in a lounge at home with a few large cushions available to see how eager they are to construct their own caves, tunnels and secret compartments. Or watch as children rush eagerly to the beach, ready to build sandcastles, moats and fortresses. Construction play has many benefits apart from just being an enjoyable way to manipulate objects into various forms. As suggested in the extract from the EYLF, it provides an opportunity for children to engage with each other and to build collaboratively, while also learning the important skills of sharing and communicating their vision for the construction.
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER
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