Year 10 Child Studies had the wonderful opportunity to visit St Joseph’s Primary School Taree in the last week of last term.  The focus of the module “Play and the Developing Child” is on understanding the nature and importance of play to child growth, development and learning.  Students have been studying how children’s play changes as they grow and develop.  The visit to Joey’s has provided an opportunity to observe and participate in many types of play and the play materials used for play in the early school years.

Kindy teachers Mrs Loretta Riddiford, Mrs Krista Abbott and Ms Elisha Radburn welcomed our students into their session on Provocation Play. 

“Kindergarten were so excited to have some special visitors from St Clare's High School!  Students undertaking the Child Studies unit came to observe our classes as they engaged in a number of aspects of play.  It was wonderful to be able to showcase our Successful Foundations program that is run throughout first term in Kindergarten.  We look forward to spending more time with St Clare's later this year!”

As part of their Assessment for child studies, students had to engage in the Reflection of Participant Observation questions below to demonstrate their understanding of the theoretical components of the course in a practical application.

The Observation SETTING

WHAT did you think about the classroom environment?  That is, how it would appear to the children…  DESCRIBE it in terms of how it was suitable/enhanced their experience (e.g., colours, furniture, space, display items on the walls and around the room – provide as much detail as possible linking this to how it might positively contribute to play and learning).

TYPES of PLAY

EXPLAIN TWO play activities you observed (e.g., parallel play, constructive play, associative play, co-operative play), referring to who did what, the materials used, how long the activity lasted and other significant details.

PLAY and LEARNING

WHAT do you think the children learnt through the play experiences you observed?  (e.g. physical skills such as threading, scissor cutting/pasting; social skills such as turn-taking, communicating with others, sharing; cognitive development such as how something works, cause and effect actions, new ideas; emotional skills such as self-regulation)

Thank you again to our colleagues at Joey’s and we look forward to seeing you and Kindy again later this Term.

Ms Melissa Northam
Child Studies Teacher – PDHE Faculty