Month: March 2017

We are delighted to announce that Flinders has been selected to participate in a 15 month project exploring children’s rights and children as citizens for children aged birth to three. The project is a part of the South Australian Collaborative Childhood Project, developed as a result of Carla Rinaldi’s Thinker in Residence position in South Australia a few years ago. So we have been thinking about children’s rights, about what it means to have rights, and how we enact this within our work at Flinders. We have been looking again at the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Australia is a signatory. As we refreshed ourselves of this important document, a few articles in particular stood out. Article 29 – Education should develop each child’s personality and talents to the full. It should encourage children to respect their parents, their cultures and other cultures. Article 30 – Children have the right to learn and use the language and customs of their families, whether or not these are shared by the majority of the people in the country where they live, as long as this does not harm others. Article 31 – Children have the right to relax, play and to join in a wide range of leisure activities. If you would like to take a look at a summary of the full convention, please click here. What are your thoughts on children as citizens from birth and possessors of rights?  

Today the gate keys were returned and the builders finished work on the Sturt House garden redevelopment. The children’s excitement levels surged again. ‘Is the fence coming down and we can play?’ These ebbs and flows of excitement and energy have been a pattern over the past three weeks. So now the children are waiting again. Waiting patiently for an official safety check……then the fence comes down and then…… PLAY!

Ever since Sturt House was established in 2012 the Director and the Educators have discussed a redevelopment of the outdoor environment. They have imagined, researched, planned and dreamed. Good things come to those who wait, and when the time was right a plan came together. Late last year the nature play and sustainability consultants Climbing Tree were employed to bring our imaginings into reality. They produced a concept proposal which was submitted to the stakeholders; Director, educators, children and the Flinders community for comment, and work finally began in early February this year. Sturt House was buzzing with anticipation and when the safety fencing went up the children really knew there were changes underway. Groups of children were constantly looking through the fence, catching the builders Ash and Nathan’s attention and confidently asking many questions. Early in week one of the construction work one educator was looking through the fence with a group of children and she said ‘Isn’t it exciting.’ One of the children responded with ‘It’s not exciting, we just want to play now.’ The Sturt House Educators shared the comment with smiles on their faces, noting once again (because these moments are brought to our attention often throughout our day), how differently adults and children can think. Then we thought more deeply about the comment. We run an emergent, play based program in Sturt House, one driven by the children’s interests together with provocations from the environment and wider Sturt House community. We use the term provocation often inRead more