Currambena Chatter

Play in preschool

Wendy has summarised creativity, play and resilience wonderfully in response to an article in the SMH last Wednesday .

In preschool we provide for large tracts of time for free choice so that preschool children can play the games they choose. This is essential as they make sense of the world through play. Lots of time to play results in deep and satisfying play. The children test themselves in many areas when they play – physically, emotionally, socially and cognitively.

Our preschool children are extremely fortunate in having the whole, rich and ever-changing playground and all the materials within it to use to develop physical confidence, inspire their imaginations and form complex social groupings. They are also fortunate to have older children and adults to play with, plan with and help them make the resources they need for play.

We believe that even very young children need to take appropriate risks to develop their bodies, their spirits and their resilience. This lays the foundation for healthy risk-taking in the teenage and adult years. We believe that bumps, bruises and scratches are part of learning. They set up a store of resilience and rationality for later life, when the challenges have a huge impact.

Posted November 5th, 2009 in Currambena Chatter by sueg

Currambena Chatter

Playground Creativity

Responses from Wendy and Sue to article from  Sydney Morning Herald (Wed Oct 28th)

Are children actually less resilient these days, as one school principal quoted in this article asserts?     I don’t think Currambena kids are!

Maybe those “cotton wool kids” who are never allowed to climb trees or run across hard surfaces or use a real knife when cooking or a hammer in craft… maybe they cannot help being less resilient, having had no opportunities to discover for themselves that falling hurts and metal tools can be dangerous as well as useful.

When children are permitted to participate in the real world, choose their own challenges and learn from their own efforts, whether successful or otherwise, they learn that it is very important to think ahead. What are the risks here? What are the safety issues I need to consider to keep myself and those around me safe?

They learn that it is OK to make mistakes and have accidents because most of these are wonderful learning opportunities! If they are NOT making mistakes, it usually means that are not courageously trying new things but taking soft and familiar options which will ensure they are not challenged physically, intellectually, socially or emotionally.

It also means they will not have the chance to develop the skills to pick themselves up after an accident or mistake and have another go!

And that’s what resilience is all about.

Posted November 5th, 2009 in Currambena Chatter by wendyp

Currambena Chatter

Preschool Poems…..

Dear Currambena

We tried to write a collaborative poem called “We are” inspired by our
buddies’ beautiful poems. It was tricky! Here is preschool’s version
of “I am”

We are
We are all of us, hello
We wonder if sometimes there will be an earthquake
We hear cars zooming by, the sound of shouting kids
We want the treehouse we’re building to have a slide to slide down
We are all of us, hello

We pretend we can be princesses and cats
We feel lonely for a cuddle from our mums
We touch our mum’s hands when we say goodbye
We cry when our mums won’t do what we want them to
We are all of us, hello

We understand when people yell at us, but we don’t feel very welcome
in this world
We say we want to have a go
We dream of monster trucks and Barbies
We try to climb the cubby house roof, but we can’t
We hope…
We are all of us, hello

Charlie, Alex, Grace, Joe O’ Shea, Poppy, Sienna, Honey, Xanthe (and a
few more)

Posted September 17th, 2009 in Currambena Chatter by Newsletter

Currambena Chatter

Missing Library Books!!

Urgent: Missing Lane Cove Library Books

I borrowed  from Lane Cove Library some books for Currambena which
have gone missing and I haven’t been able to return them. They were in
preschool for the children but they have gone missing from preschool
and I haven’t been able to find them anywhere else in the school.

If you have borrowed them and taken them home could you PLEASE give
them back to Gabriela in preschool.

The books in question:

1. Firefighters
2. Reducing Rubbish

Thanks!

Gabriela

Posted September 17th, 2009 in Currambena Chatter by Newsletter

Currambena Chatter

“Through My Eyes” a song by Valerie Foley


“Through My Eyes” a song by Valerie Foley (mum of Billy in Fran’s)

“Through My Eyes”, sung by Thanh Bui, is a song about what it can feel like when you are autistic. I wrote the lyrics this year, inspired by the way our son Billy lives his life.
It’s been an amazing year for us, not least because Billy has found something at Currambena that we weren’t sure he would ever find – acceptance. It wouldn’t have occurred to me to write the lyrics of “Through My Eyes” before now, because we were too busy wondering how our little square peg would find any holes that were even remotely interesting to him. Autism, in our view at least, isn’t so much a disorder as a different way of seeing the world, and your relationship to it. That’s what “Through My Eyes” is about, and also, we have discovered, what Currambena is about!
Through My Eyes is available for download on iTunes Australia now (for $1.69), and all proceeds go to Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect).
It’s on YouTube too http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HwDXoHnVxY

with love, Valerie

Posted September 10th, 2009 in Currambena Chatter by Newsletter

Currambena Chatter

Welcome Leila Horn…..

Tommy Horn (of Fran’s Class) now has a baby sister. His proud parents, Ann and Mark, are even prouder. The baby, LEILA CONSTANCE TWYNAM HORN, arrived in a big hurry on Wednesday 19 August. She weighed 3.85 kg and is 51cm long. Ann and Leila look forward to visiting the school soon.

Posted August 27th, 2009 in Currambena Chatter by Newsletter

Currambena Chatter

Luuk from Holland

GREETINGS FROM HOLLAND

Hello Everybody!

How is everyone!? I’m already back in Holland for three weeks. I have to admit, I miss all of you very very much!

When I got back in Holland, my family and friends organized a wonderful come back party for me. It was great to see everyone again in Holland.  Right now, I’m finishing the last few things for school and I am preparing for my new study: Physical therapy. On the 27th of August is my final conversation with my supervisors at school, and afterwards I hope I will have a great  party .       At least 2/3 times a week, I read the green book which I got from all of you, and I just love it!  The stories, the photo’s, it reminds me of a wonderful time at Currambena.

I have still a lot of contact with Julianna and Fran and it will be great if I have contact with more people from Currambena. So, just send me an email and I will reply as quick as possible.

My email address: horstinkluuk@hotmail.com

I hope you’re all good, and hope to hear from you soon.

Cheers,

Luuk

Posted August 20th, 2009 in Currambena Chatter by juliannam

Currambena Chatter

Babysitter!!!

Looking for a babysitter?

Mary Paz has just graduated from university in Chile, and she is staying
in Lane Cove with us – (the Woodward family: Emma, Chloe and Finn). She is
available to babysit most evenings – and charges a very reasonable
$16/hour.

Mary is great with children, diligent, reliable and organised. She comes
with a range of non-child related qualifications – including a degree in
construction engineering (Mary’s lego towers are built to withstand
earthquakes). She is also a professional basketball player, who has
represented her country for a number of years. (She can get a dirty pair
of children’s socks into the laundry basket from 15 metres).

You can call Mary directly on 0420422538
Or talk to Kirsten – 9427 0625

Posted August 20th, 2009 in Currambena Chatter by Newsletter

Currambena Chatter

PHOTOS PLEASE!!!!

Does  anyone have any great photos (vertical and high res),  for consideration for next years calender???

The theme is “40 Years of Inspired Learning”.

Please email Karen at karen@giveorganic.com.au

Thanks!

Posted August 5th, 2009 in Currambena Chatter by Newsletter

Currambena Chatter

THANK-YOU! THANK-YOU! THANK-YOU! THANK-YOU! THANK-YOU!

THANKYOU… for being a part of our great school’s 40th Anniversary / Reunion celebrations. We send an enormous thankyou to our very special guest David Cohen, who, despite ill health and living in South Australia, was able to make the huge trek to Sydney to celebrate the success of his “baby”. We hope that it was evident how much we appreciate the legacy that is the school we all love and enjoy with our children today, thankyou. Thankyou so much to David Heilpern, Sarah Levett and Marc deRosnay, for sharing your inspiring stories and experiences of Currambena. It is really uplifting and we never tire of hearing these personal accounts.

Thankyou to all the kids for their great performances, clearly you all enjoyed performing as much as the audience loved watching you.

Thankyou to the staff… for all the love and creative energy you pour into the kids and the school, everyday!

Thankyou to all the parents, alumni and everyone for coming, you made the day.

Thankyou so much to all the people for bringing food. WOW! What a feast. Its just so easy to organise these things with such an enthusiast and generous bunch of families who are always willing to jump on board and contribute. It was delicious.

Thankyou to the planning team who came to meetings, and co-ordinated large chunks of the day. Thanks, Steve, Linda + Wayne for the bar, Rachel for co-ordinating the food, Tracey and Andrew for organising so much and coming in early to help set up with Steve, Rachel and David. Anne for dealing with the rubbish and recycling, Martin + Susan for the brilliant photo display, Mikey for getting the coffee cart, Ian deVulder for having all the archival footage converted to dvd so we could display it on Sunday. Kirsten Lees for the historical research, press releases and the creation of the Currambena timeline, Jason for being the sound guy, Tony for setting up the data projector, Veronica for all your support, Danni for the cake, Lynn Higgs for your compulsive raffle initiative, Olivia Higgs for accepting that there is a time and a place to put the microphone down (despite the talent), David and David – BBQ brilliance, Eduardo and Magda for all the million things you did, and thankyou to all those for hanging around to help clean it all up at the end of the day.

One thing that is abundantly clear is how much we all love Currambena.

Posted July 8th, 2009 in Currambena Chatter by Newsletter