Sally, could you say what you said to me?
How are they the same or different?
Look at my little special rock.
Taking the children to bush preschool develops their sense of wellbeing
by linking them to each other in a new context.
Over the year, they've been building up their relations with each other
and their trust with each other.
In this new context, that really shines through.
They are sticks! Yeah, they're big sticks and logs. That's true.
Does anybody have any ideas of what they might be for?
My name's Zara Kaye.
I'm the teacher in charge at Rona Glynn Preschool in Alice Springs.
We have 62 children attending here.
Today at bush preschool,
we started by gathering in a circle, as we do,
and grounding ourself in the space.
So close your eyes, and just for one minute,
I want you to have a think about what you can hear.
(BIRD CHIRPS)
OK, so open your eyes.
And I'd love you to put your hand up and tell us what you heard.
We sat together in a circle on the sand
and noticed some of the things immediately around us.
And we noticed too some of the things that had changed over time
since we visited last.
That's really important,
to support children's capacity to notice fine detail.
Now, they're very beautiful, aren't they?
How do they feel?
Ariane? Kind of soft?
-And smooth. -And smooth. Great.
I was greatly influenced by a visit I made to Westgarth Kindergarten
in Melbourne.
I made a professional visit there
just to have a window into
what some really reputable practice looked like
in terms of preschool.
The main philosophy behind it is
that being in nature, for children,
has a profound benefit on their development.
A 4-year-old's brain is still forming
and setting up patterns and capacities
for the rest of that human being's life.
So actually having exposure to a wide range of senses, experiences...
It's a deeply rich environment and experience for the children involved
which does have an impact for the rest of their life.
Great idea. And really good, because it brought the kids together.
Because I was a bit worried about the game of...
..everybody running away from Phoebe.
That's what we do at school anyway,
so it's nice to do something a little bit different.
And nice to have something that's inclusive
rather than everybody running away from someone.
I just wanted us to have a moment in our meeting
just to think about what went really well
for the kids individually
but I guess also for the group,
for us as a team, and for the process of bush preschool.
We got a lot of positive responses from our last bush preschool
and a couple of really great suggestions.
That feels really good, that we're learning,
the children are definitely learning,
and the community of families has ownership of the process of learning
that we're all doing together.
So it's a very, very rich role,
being a teacher in a preschool.
But I'm sure everybody knows that. It's quite amazing. (LAUGHS)
These children are the problem-solvers,
inventors and leaders of the future.
So bush preschool offers a very rich, authentic experience
for children to take risks
to trust themselves and others,
to feel success,
to be inspired,
and to connect with the land and the community that supports them.
So this experience, and the impact that it has on them,
they'll take into their future lives.