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Life Song Becomes Pacific Spirit!
As many of you now know, our school has gone through a transformation... and the year is off to a great start. Life Song's 20th anniversary was honoured last month, which also marked Susan's retirement. Pacific Spirit School is now building on this legacy and, to paraphrase Dr. Seuss, "Oh, the places, we'll go..." WelcomeWe would like to welcome everyone to our first Pacific Spirit School Newsletter. At Pacific Spirit we are embarking on a new adventure, for our children, our educators, and our community. Our work is very much about helping children to move from their primary world of family to the larger social world through the venue of school. And we have some very definite beliefs that how this transition occurs affects a child's ability to relate with themselves, with others, and with their own aims in life. In the past three weeks our focus has been on creating a healthy emotional and social environment. This environment is, we believe, foundational to their ability to open to learning on all levels, including academic. It would be nice to think of this foundational time as always idyllic and supportive. However we are much more human than this and there are challenges of new or possibly changing friendships, of finding one's own place in the group, of separation upon joining a structured environment away from home, perhaps for the first time. So we have had a lot of laughter, excitement, smiles, and some tears as we begin to form this new community of learners, both children and adults. A core concept of our school is supporting the growth of the whole child. The educators bring this to life in the daily interactions in the school by first observing and then helping each child to value and express their own experience. In Heidi's class this may look life a finger puppet story that depicts the types of challenges, behaviours and emotions that she sees in her class. With the children's direction and interpretation the story enables them to create meaning of what is going on within and around themselves. As the children develop in maturity, Catherine and Judy may bring this to life by supporting the kids to engage in a dialogue to explore their own emotions, behaviours, and ideas about of the interactions. It is easy with all this talk of emotions and personal experience to say, "Yeah, but what about learning? What about reading and writing and math?" Our approach is based on experience and research that demonstrates that learning happens far more readily when children are happy and feel safe. We have a great passion for children's cognitive development just as we do for their social and emotional development. The curriculum is already being formed and explored though the ideas and topics (such as rocks and rodents!) that are currently capturing the kids' imaginations. So we are looking forward to an exciting year of learning and exploration for everyone. |
In This IssueOPEN HOUSESeptember 27, 4-7 pm A Child Honouring SchoolPacific Spirit School is aligned with the Child Honouring Covenant and Principles articulated by child advocate and entertainer, Raffi Cavoukian, C.M., O.B.C., D.Mus, D.Litt. Visioning & PlanningOn a beautiful sunny day in August the members of the Board (including all of our educators) were engaged in a process to refine and define our vision and strategic plan.
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