General News
Special project allows relationship between preschoolers and big school to blossom
Freya Lucas
Feb 18, 2021
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Balance Early Education's 2020 Preschool Program has used special seeds and familiar flowers to help children connect with their new primary schools.
The Help Me Grow project was created by educators at Balance, and saw children work in small groups with children they would be attending primary school with to choose plants and flowers to place in pots three months before leaving the service for “big school”.Over the children’s last three months at the service, they cared for and tended to their special plants with the intention of passing them on to their new school, maintaining a connection to their early learning service.
Balance Centre Manager Molly Gallop said transitioning to a new phase of education "is equally exciting and unnerving for children".
"We are so pleased to see how the children interacted with this project and how it played a role in shaping their sense of belonging and confidence with this journey," she told local publication Western Advocate.
"We know it has been one project that has helped the children prepare for their next learning journey into big school."
Local principal Darren Denmead said the program had helped children transition calmly into Bathurst West Public School, thanking the Balance team for “the lovely idea of providing plants to assist with transition".
"I think this is legendary," he told the paper.
As well as being a point of connection, the potted plants gave a message to the teachers and parents at the children's new school through messaging on the pots themselves.
"Children are like growing flowers," the pots say. "Be sure to shower them with love, laughter and learning."
To read the original coverage of this story, please see here.
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