Class 3/4 Sleep Over

Last Wednesday Class 3/4 students, along with a strong contingent of enthusiastic parents, slept over at school. Although, as you might already have guessed, sleep was not always easy to come by, and everyone was very glad to have the day off on Thursday!

Stepping out of our normal routines is challenging for everyone, and the sleep over is typically held in Class 3 to provide an opportunity for children to take a step away from their usual supports and comforts, and seek those things in themselves and their friends. It’s not always easy or pretty but so worthwhile. We had lots of parents staying over, and this provided a strong grounding and holding for the night which allowed the children to relax and enjoy themselves.  Thank you to Ros, Olly, Brett, Erika, Brooke and Colin for sharing your warmth and care.

A class sleep over definitely marches on its stomach, and we were blessed with delicious food from beginning to end. I am very grateful to Brooke, Erika and Nada for co-ordinating the food side of things, and to all the other parents who contributed meals and ingredients. 

The afternoon and evening were filled with the sounds of kids having fun. Highlights included afternoon soccer and hooping sessions, an after-dinner stage show, an epic game of spotlight, moonlit silence by the creek and a dawn wander through the bush and along the very dry creek bed.  

I was so impressed and pleased by the spirit of co-operation and collaboration that shone through the children. We had a perfect night and I’m sure it will be long remembered.

Farming

Seeds are sprouting, fences are being mended and eggs will soon be hatching! There’s plenty happening during main lesson in Class 3/4 as we seek to connect with the cycles of life that sustain us. We are very grateful and appreciative of Goodies Farm for providing us with plentiful seed to plant, and also to Ros for coming in to share her wealth of farming knowledge. We planted a range of crops in 4 different soil types, and now we have divided these between the covered shade house and the uncovered nursery. We have made predictions about how these variables might affect growth, and our daily observations are logged in our main lesson books.

We have also turned our eye to the mostly finished chook shed in the orchard, and our collective efforts will be focused on completing this project by the end of term. Hopefully by the end of term we will be holding a moving-in-party for some chickens!

Later this week we will extend our connections beyond the school, with a visit to Hovea Biodynamic Garden and Jenkins Dairy Farm, returning to school with some first hand experience of land care and dairy farming, and some fresh poo for next week’s compost heap.

This brief summary of a few weeks’ activity makes it abundantly clear that it takes a community to educate a group of children, and I am so grateful to be in this community with all of you.

Ric