Educate

When our children are young, exposing them to a variety of opportunities helps them learn what interests and inspires them.

The process of creating and making art is natural to children, as they engage all their senses to explore the world around them. The arts enable children to use their whole bodies for learning and create endless opportunities for imagining and creating.

Over the past few decades, we have been asking about the most influential factors that make a difference in your child’s learning. The greatest in-school factor is the expertise of the teacher – their passion, their ways of evaluative thinking, their expectations, and their understanding of what it means to learn.

Welcome to Educate issue #3 by KIDDO. The team behind KIDDO has created EDUCATE to put some of the best and brightest opportunities in SA education in the spotlight. So that families have access to a comprehensive look at what options there are to choose from when making the big decisions around schooling for our important little (and not so little) people!

Choosing an early learning centre (ELC) or school for your child is one of the biggest decisions you’ll make as a parent. So, how do you find the ‘right’ one?

Research and experience has shown us nature play is essential to a child’s physical health. The naturally uneven and textural materials found in nature can’t be replicated (although we may try). Outside, children tune into their senses; nature provides opportunities to explore, to notice, to wonder. Climbing Tree Creations have been creating nature play spaces for kids for over a decade now, we find out more about their philosophies.

How transformational would it be to learn under the shade of a tree? As our children move back into the world after the past few years learning from home, a connection to nature, play and learning has become a central theme in educational design for schools. Nature-play and the concept of biophilia, both aim to create opportunities to connect with nature more often in our daily lives through the spaces we spend our time in.

If you’re anything like the majority of Australian adults you were probably taught that money wasn’t something that ‘polite’ people talked about. But we do need to talk about it and, more importantly, we need to teach our kids about it while they’re at school, before bad habits have the chance to take root. But what, exactly, should you be teaching them?

Covid has accelerated the pace of change and altered the way our children engage with the online world in ways we may not have expected. Children in South Australian schools are saying that they are connected online more than ever before.

Mud a source of childhood joy but research has demonstrated that exposure to friendly bacteria in soil can assist the brain to release serotonin, the endorphin used to regulate mood. The more serotonin we have – the happier we are. Mud literally makes us happy. Jason from Nature Play SA takes us through the many benefits of mud play for our children, and some ideas for getting messy with mud!

South Australia is in the midst of a horror start to the flu season, with confirmed cases of influenza numbers soaring within the state. If you’ve been hesitating on getting a vaccination for yourself or your children, now’s the time take your medicine!

MobileMuster has been helping Australians recycle their mobile phones since 1998, tackling the ever-growing problem of electronic waste. Educating the next generation of environmentally conscious consumers is one of MobileMuster’s core objectives, so in 2019 they launched their national student film making competition for students of all ages.

As the largest after-school learning programme in the world, Kumon is more than just tutoring. It’s a partnership between parent, student and Kumon Instructor, to fully pursue each child’s individual potential and develop his or her ability to the maximum. We find out about how Kumon helps children develop their confidence, a daily study habit and a high level of mathematics and reading ability.

This month, Raising Literacy Australia (RLA), has launched a critical campaign to support early years literacy development, following a documented rise in the number of developmentally vulnerable children starting school across the state, and entering out-of-home care.

Westminster have completed the latest stage of their stunning $40 million Campus Masterplan, with the opening of the Forder Centre, offering both day and boarding students a range of resources and social spaces.