Day 2 - Pen Green Children's Centre - Inspirational early years education.

The tour group spent the whole day at Pen Green CC prior to travelling to Durham in East England. We were overwhelmed by the generosity, professionalism and exemplary programs delivered to the families of Corby. The centre is reknown for it's research centre, training for ec teams, facilities for its families, governing bodies, children and communities. The spaces throughout the centre were simply engaging in every possible way adn heavily influenced by the ethos of the pedagogy of nature and play, listening to children's voices and choices and documenting children's progression through the work of Ferre Laevers. The following photos are only a few of the spaces we visited. We have been asked to be very careful not to photograph children - which I would have loved to do to record their absolute engagement throughout. The transience of children being able to access the curriculum all day, extending their learning pathways inside, outside and beyond was absolutely obvious to all of us.  Inside -  Learning spaces include a water play room - the whole room is dedicated to water play with showers, troughs, taps, hoses etc. A Soft Play room which is completely padded from floor to ceiling with purpose built padded shapes, inside sandpits, inside gardens, room after room of opportunities for children to stumble over natural fabrics, elements of nature collections , a tower to climb and observe nature outdoors ----then outside was the adventure garden with mud kitchen, flying fox, waterways, tunnels, nooks and crannies, contemplation areas, bridges, natural cubbies, flower and vegetable gardens, chooks , dress ups everywhere, implements and tools etc. THEN, the children are taken to the centres forest plot once a week for the day to explore their wonderings - equipped with tools, ropes, buckets, wood, magnifying glasses, twine floorbooks......all the while documenting their own learning in Floorbooks, photographed by their educators for reflection, pondering and sharing with families through their very own "Celebration of learning' books.
An exhausted and overwhelmed group of Australians slept through the 3 1/2 hour bus trip to follow but with plenty to think about!