The uniforms are ironed, the school hats have been found and with any luck lunch boxes weren’t left in the bottom of a school bag at the end of Term 4. Welcome to the new school year! While the start of first term often brings with it excitement, nerves and possibly a few tears, a new school year means new beginnings, new adventures, new friendships, and new challenges.The slate is clear for our children and anything can happen from the moment they step into their new classroom for the year ahead.
With the new year also comes our next issue of EDUCATE. In this mag we take a deep dive into the indoors and outdoors of learning. Junior Landcare have given us some tips on how to educate our children on conservation, and Climbing Tree Creations have taken us through the opportunities for play in a high school environment, and what play looks like for this age group. We also take a look at the changing names and nature of learning spaces, with Dr Nathan James Crane explaining classroom typologies and the recent shift in the way designers and educators are conceptualising these spaces.
Madhavi Nawana Parker broaches the all important topic of helping our young people through exam stress, especially for our year 11s and 12s, and we find out more about First Language teaching across the APY Lands in South Australia’s north-west. This important initiative from the Department of Education sees schools and communities working together to build Aṉangu students’ multilingual literacy skills for learning across the curriculum by drawing on the strong foundation of Aṉangu languages, cultures and knowledges.
Best wishes for the year ahead, and a special dose of extra good luck for those families with children starting primary school or high school for the first time this year. The next adventure starts now.
Charlotte Chambers
KIDDO + EDUCATE Publisher
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