Humour with children

We saw this on the door of one of the rooms and I thought it was funny. These sorts of things bring humour to the team and interactions with families

Spaces for people to be together

The kitchen is designed as a central space where parents can interact with teachers and Debra as they arrive in the morning. The food is cooking and the centre is full of the aroma of baking and yummy!!

Mary Lynne wants this kitchen....

The couch provides a space for people to sit and relax for 5 minutes if that is what they need to do. The space for parents to connect with their children and say goodbye too in a space that looks a lot like home.

Friday is Muffin day so a basket of fresh muffins awaits families as they arrive to drop off children - right beside the coffee machine for a caffeine hit on the way out the door. Talk about valuing the 'space' parents occupy in their minds when making the transition from home to work - how good would it be to grab a muffin and coffee as you drive on to your destination. Families at the heart of the matter.

Town of Beaumont ELCC - And here is the little something beautiful

Check out my 'Seeds of Empathy' post to get the back story to this.

Thanks Jodie for taking the time in your crazy world to talk to the family about posting these photos - such a beautiful moment between brother and sister....this made me cry....not sure about my first impressions...crying after being there for half an hour!!

How connected is this!!!

'Little Jimmy's'

Little Jimmy's is the drop in space for families for a range of purposes. I knew Pen Green had spaces for parents and children, however I had not appreciated the variety of spaces and multiple functions these spaces provide. The space is named after a Councillor - Jimmy Kane - who partnered up with Margy to lobby for the provision of a service over 30 years ago. The space is named to recognise his contribution to the establishment and growth of Pen Green - he has scottish heritage and shared the vision for the centre for children and families in Corby.

The main educational themes are evident here too - schema, parent engagement and wellbeing!! A parent attending this morning was telling me all about trajectory schema in one of the children's play - not her own child either!!! How groovy is that!

 A variety of services are available at 'Little Jimmy's' - the health services set up clinics on specific days and parents can come and attend while their children are at the Nursery. Sometimes the family does not have a child attending and they just come to the drop in space. I met a group of mothers who come to 'Little Jimmy's' every Thursday morning for a catch up and a coffee. Their children do not attend nursery. Families are able to use the space in ways that are meaningful for them, rather than for purposes defined for them. I think this is something quite unique - genuine power sharing with parents and families.

 As it is a drop in space and you can't anticipate who will attend - it is tricky to set up the environment. Therefore the space is predictable for families. Parents requested to have a dedicated space for very young children as a constant...below is how it was presented today.

 There is sand play inside - it is more of an inside activity than outside...wait until I tell you about 'the beach'. I am waiting to get a photo before talking about it.

 Below is the space to come in and make a coffee/tea - breakfast too if you had to leave the house early and need to get a bite to eat. There is nothing that they have not thought of here at Pen Green!

Thank you Kathy for taking the time to talk with me about your role in the lives of people involved in the Pen Green community

Baby Massage

I had the opportunity to observe a baby massage session today with a group of 8-10 mothers and babies aged from 5 weeks to nearly 12 months old. Thank you to the parents, children, volunteers and teachers for allowing me to come in to observe what is an intimate and personal time between parents and children.
The baby massage sessions are a 'drop in' arrangement. The parents and children do not have to commit to coming or even book in - they can just arrive and everyone makes it work. There is respect for the fact that an expectation of attendance can put pressure on families to 'have to be somewhere' and makes it more relaxed. I had the chance to talk with a some of the mothers and share in the joy of their parenting. One was there for the first time, coming with her sister-in-law who I think has an older child attending Pen Green. 
I was also able to witness how the staff 'connect with' parents to ensure they know about the other services available at Pen Green. There is a real skill to getting the 'paperwork' completed without making it seem like a burden, especially as there is a young child to give your attention to at the same time. There is thoughtful care and consideration afforded to the families.
The other thing that I have been thinking about is the team approach to everything. There were teachers and volunteers attending the session - all totally into it!!!
Thanks for letting me come in and be with you.

Meeting with Angela - The power of home visits

Angela hosted me for an hour and a half this afternoon - meeting with me to discuss the life of the centre. It felt very familiar....as far as I can tell, Angela is leader/manager of multiple spaces in the centre and has been there for 25 years (Margy told me that....yes...I had a coffee and chat with Dr Margy Whalley for a hour and a half:O). We started off with passing on some communication to the staff - to get a sense of how full on it is at this place, there was a Skype meeting with a group from USA at 4pm and the time had been changed. Then we got to sit together over a herbal tea to discuss the life of the centre according to Angela. There is so much going on here in amongst a lot of changes in the political agenda for education.

Home visits - a window into culture and identity
Home visits are an important feature of the activities of the teachers. The teachers visit to meet the child in their own space and to enable them to engage in conversations about things relating to the environment of the child when at the centre....the loop concept.
One idea was to take photographs of the doors of where the children live while visiting so there is an image to revisit. it also helps children explain to others where they live and opportunities for story telling and rich language experiences. There are two 'traveller' communities that have children attending so I was intrigued about how this works. It is important for teachers to 'be with children and families' in their spaces and to get a sense of the culture of the family through being in their home. 

This is a blast from the past for us - something we would do for all families in the 90's. Could this be a way to strengthen relationships? The teachers have half a day per week for professional time (AKA non contact) - and children are gone by 3.30pm - staff work until 4.30pm so visits are done in this time. 

Assessment
Teachers here have learning stories and have had numerous exchanges with Wendy Lee and Margaret Carr over the past 10-15 years (at least). The documentation on the walls had a very familiar feeling to NZ and even looked like what I see in many services. I want to explore a bit more the approaches to assessment and how decisions about planning for learning are made. I scratched the surface today and will research more tomorrow and Friday. I had better pace myself.
There are some crazy things happening in the education system over here. I don't want to rant about them here too much as I have only been introduced to the ideas and if my understandings are right - it is ridiculous!! Lets just say that the team at Pen Green have found ways to stay true to their approach and frameworks as well as accommodate the needs of the external evaluators. This is an important lesson for us all.

Presentation - Kate Hayward - Assistant Director Research Base

Main points for me from presentation:

• Community and engagement (community development approach) - Parents know their children best. Need to work with parents in ways that share knowledge about the child, and they need to be able to share their knowledge through genuine dialogue.
• P.I.C.L - Parents engaged in their Childs learning
• Use video a lot to understand what children are doing 
• Community is really important if you want to make a difference in the lives of children. Resistance is good as at least you know people have a passionate point of view about something.
• There are 120 staff across the whole organisation - social services, health and education working together for families
• targeting of interventions can often be thought of to be a deficit model - challenge the thinking is a way of working (not a programme) - engagement with communities and working with each other.
• Parents make decisions and lead assessment conversations. How do you understand your community?
• Kate referred to our 5 questions - Do you know me? what do you know about your community? Do you hear me? Can I trust you? Is this place fair for me? Do you let me fly?
• Develop things here that parents have been leading the assessment of need. Parents tell the service what they think is important and distributing the power. 

Beliefs and values about working with parents?

• Negotiating this and owning what ours are.
• What you believe affects how you work with a family
• Meet - 'The Pen Green Loop' - there is some connection here to our 'Helical Vortex' concept - anyway - it is about how what happens in each of the settings impacts on the other through observations by both and having a shared dialogue - this is both formal and informal.

Settling children and families into the centre - strengthening connections.

• There is a two week setting period where the child is supported to transition into the centre - not only by parents - all significant adults/siblings can be involved in settling the child. I thought this was great as the teachers get to meet and observe the ways the child interacts with these 'significant others' and build on these observations to strengthen a relationship with the child incrementally over time (albeit 2 weeks). It is a way to create memories with children at the centre, levering off the emotional connections the child has with these important people. Stroke of genius I think and not putting the pressure on parents only, inclusive of a variety of people in the life of the child. The possibilities are endless - Uncle, Aunty, neighbour, grandparent, older sibling.....Imaging the insights you would get into the life of the child through observing and sharing time together.
• A way to get to know and understand the child
• After 6 weeks at the centre - the teachers share a video clip about the child's engagement at the centre
• For children attending longer, there can be several clips. There are PICL groups where parents are invited to come and watch video clips of their children (collectively watching clips of each others children). Parents are able to watch the clips together and share ideas. 
• For some families, they meet 1:1 as well - again this is formal or informal - the team at Pen Green work hard to make it manageable.

Main frameworks - shared language to discuss learning:

• Notice, recognising and responding
• Wellbeing - Leavers levels of involvement 
• Schema