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JAG announces Adventure Program in honour of Children’s Week
Freya Lucas
Oct 25, 2023
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In celebration of International Children’s Week, outside school hours care (OSHC) provider Junior Adventures Group (JAG) has announced its new Adventure Program which is a play-based program which provides children with the opportunity to learn essential life skills and explore their own interests while attending OSHC.
The program has been created using contemporary child development research and in consultation with early childhood education and care (ECEC) professionals and those in allied and related fields, including Play Australia, the national peak body for play since 1914.“It is exciting to have one of Australia’s leading OSHC providers commit to our mission to build a healthier Australia through the power of play,” said Play Australia CEO, Robyn Monro Miller.
“Play deprivation has serious physical and mental health implications for children. The work we are undertaking with JAG is an exciting step forward in addressing that deficit, drawing on the depth of international experience and local expertise to embed play in daily practices at a service level.”
The ambitious three-year strategy to embed play and playwork principles across all JAG services internationally builds on data published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which describes how a child’s social and emotional skills directly relate to the individual, family and school, and are closely linked to academic success, labour market outcomes and health.
However, social isolation throughout the pandemic has had an impact on the social and emotional development of children, and as such, the new Adventure Program provides children with the social, emotional and interpersonal skills to prepare them for life, by creating environments where playfulness can thrive.
Delivered through seven categories that have been designed to help children navigate the world around them, children can participate in a variety of categories including:
- Flavour Fest
- Global Kids
- Brain Boosters
- Wellbeing Warriors
- Power Teams
- Super Sports
- Creative Inventors.
Melinda Crole, CEO of JAG Australia, believes that the new program will allow the provider to “move away from the constraints of the past,” and play a more meaningful part in positively impacting the next generation of children.
“Children spend up to half their childhood free time in OSHC and JAG is committed to ensuring that children experience the benefits of rich play opportunities and fun adventures across all our services. We believe children deserve nothing less than our full attention to this goal.”
The program has launched simultaneously across the international JAG network, which includes services in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Ireland educating and caring for approximately 90,000 children across 1000+ partner schools.
Learn more about JAG here.
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