We were delighted to have a visit from Lindi Bell of Small World Playgroup in Johannesburg last week. Lindi is the Chairperson of the Johannesburg Reggio Study Group. She left us some comments following her visit as below:
First
I want to thank you for making a plan for me to come and visit Reflections on a
day that perhaps did not suit you as well. I am so very grateful to have
had the opportunity to move through the rooms and imbibe the atmosphere and
ethos. Truly, there were some rooms I walked into that made my eyes just
tear up like there was some hidden sprinkler system or something. I was
so moved by the environment which spoke so loudly and proudly FOR children and
their rights and potentials.
I
understand that some of your rooms had just been cleared out over the holidays
ready for the new groups to come in and make it their own space. I would
not have been happy with anything else. Less was more definitely more in
this case,
Yvonne
was so generous with her time (did she tell you I took up an entire
afternoon of her time??). She was as authentic as they come, passionate
about Reggio and Reflections, with a genuine and lovely way with the
children. She was also very knowledgeable about all the ins and outs of
running a school and was so in touch with the goings-on in each room.
I was made to feel so at home. Honestly, I could've just bundled
her up into my suitcase and brought her home with me. I love the way she
was so unapologetically confident in the teacher's role in the learning that
happens at Reflections too. That teaching and learning should not stand
on opposite sides of the river watching the water flow by... that they should
both be in the same boat, rowing. That yes, it is all about the children and
their interests and curiosities, but the teacher has as much a part to play in
the construction of that learning as the children. So, I'm preaching to the
choir...
You
have a magnificent school, Martin. A noble, elegant school. A beautiful,
juicy, organic, human school. To think that its is all hand-made so to
speak gives me 'goosies' (gooseflesh?). The playground that has been
co-created... the rooms full of the deep-thinking of the children (even the
babies!)... the entrance hall that is so warm and welcoming, the lovely sound
of children's voices drifting down the stairs, that beautiful water feature
that I can't wait to read about, the 'poorly tree' so thoughtfully attended to,
the fire-pit that I imagine teaches children more about being safe that any
book/speech would, the edible garden so rich with provocations... the baby room
with baby chairs sat side-by-side ready for communion with each other... the
loveliness of Louise and Shelly... the treasure trove that I later found at
St Paul's Exhibitions Centre... made it all worth coming all that way for! and
then some!
I
would like to say I wouldn't change a thing, but then of course you will
anyway!
But
really, a thoroughly amazing experience for me!
Thanks
so much
Lindi
Bell
SMALL
WORLD PLAYGROUP
Johannesburg
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ReplyDeleteI am a single, disabled parent who recently lost my job and Small World School decided (literally on the first working day of the year, well before the school has actually re-opened) to kick my 3-year-old child out of school after only 3 months of non-payment (in a full year of payments!) with zero reasonable frameworks for settlement. There was no engagement with my context and ZERO care to find out. The school is dominantly white and they say they want to preferentially admit kids of colour but then they are SO quick to exclude them at the very first bump in the road! They say they are a home and a village but really, this is only a place for the rich and elite. Do NOT send your kids here if you care about diversity and inclusion!
ReplyDeleteIf they saw a vulnerable person as a potential asset, rather than as an automatic burden, they could have benefitted from me providing dance classes, photography and video, and strong school policy development. The school has no board and no policies on exclusion, so it is simply the principle who makes all the decisions and who set the very tight and impossible frameworks for payment in this case. I pointed out how this decision and the lack of engagement with my specific context was in tension with legal precedent (using a case where 2 years of fees were outstanding from a private school) but no care was shown. If the school cares about racial accessibility (which they assured me they did - and which they absolutely SHOULD care about, and be actively addressing, facing the currently skewed racial dynamics), they HAVE to be facing the ongoing and probably increasing economic realities of vulnerability in this country and they should be building stronger systems for sustainability into the school, moving forward. I offered this kind of policy work to them, but they showed no interest. In my experience, their engagements with diversity and vulnerability are tokenistic at best.
These things MATTER in the spaces that raise our children and especially when these are the actions of a principle talking about the “future of education” in South Africa.