Health & P.E. News
Nossal High School Visits the Good Start Early Learning Centre
Walking in, we didn’t expect to come out with so much happiness and joy from just a mere 2 hours with children from the ages of a few months to 4-5 years. But that’s what the year 11 Health and Human Development class of 2016 felt.
On August 2, we visited the Good Start Early Learning Centre in Berwick. This centre is a high-quality learning centre which engages in all aspects of development: physical, intellectual, emotional and social for infants and children up until the age of 4 or 5. Our students split into 4 groups and alternated around the 4 rooms of different age groups including: the nursery (0-2 years), the toddlers (2-3 years), the pre-school kids (3-4 years) and the kindergarten kids (4-5 years).
The Nursery
With smiles on our faces, as we walked into the nursery, I can guarantee most of us could not contain our excitement to see the youngest of the group. Especially Vincent, Wei and I, who almost immediately went to the see a 9 month old adorable triplet named Christian. His brothers were sleeping in the cots and this little boy was wide awake for us to play with. The babies engaged in mostly physical development: learning how to grasp blocks, crawling or beginning to stand up on their own two feet and even walking! Some babies even came and sat on students laps and could not stop hugging us. This felt very comfortable with the students and of course we were more than happy to engage with them.
The Toddlers
Moving into the toddlers room, many children were playing outside with kid-sized cars and tricycles. I was fortunate enough to meet a 3 year old who had actually been born at 28 weeks. This gorgeous girl could not walk as she was born with cerebral palsy, and I was honestly so happy to engage with her. She drove in the plastic red and yellow car as I pushed it making sure to say "broom broom". Her smile definitely was the highlight of my week.
The Pre-Schoolers
Most of the pre-schoolers were extremely excited and very interactive. Social development was clearly evident as one of the differences in interaction between toddlers and the pre-schoolers. The pre-schoolers were seen to be dragging the students to play in the sand pit or play sports. My classmates and I engaged in a range of physical activities with these enthusiastic kids; including playing duck-duck-goose, making sandcastles and playing with hula hoops! We were also all eager to read these enthusiastic youngsters a few stories which is one of the activities that will improve their intellectual development.
The Kindergarten Kids
Many of the children were engaging and loved the attention that we were so willing to give. Some of the kindergarten boys were even hanging off students legs, as Ben experienced. Although some were shy and quiet and required a slow and steady play date for them to open up, which displayed an improvement in emotional development.
Overall, our experience at the Good Start Early Learning Centre made us feel like kids again. We look forward to re-visiting the centre in Term 4 and thank Aimee for the amazing day and the opportunity!
Britney Vancuylenburg - Year 11