A Phenomenal Festival of Education!
As I write this, the bilingual Festival of Education (EdFest) is into its second day. I have been overwhelmed at the
response from the parents and am delighted that the sessions have been valued as important, relevant and useful. A
Festival of Education is very similar to Early Years’ education in many ways; it provides choice for personal
development, it takes each individual on their own journey of learning, it supports the development of skills that are
useful and relevant and each unique individual takes away something different.
EdFest offered two full days of sessions with local, national and international speakers. Wednesday focussed on local
and international experts and Thursday brought together international speakers from the UK, the UAE and the Seychelles.
The sessions covered an exceptional range of topics including:
- How to help my child to succeed in life: redefining success
- Move it monsters: physical activity in children aged 2-6
- Understanding the connection between learning, child behaviour and the power of positive reinforcement
- Building a sustainable world with our youth
- Nutrition for children
- Stories and singing for language acquisition
- Building character
- Learning through play
- Home learning for school learning
We were delighted to welcome Harry Randall (Old Wellingtonian) who delivered a session on ‘Being a Wellingtonian: how Wellington prepares you to succeed’. The session was a great success and Harry was able to provide evidence (the evidence being Harry himself) of how a holistic education that promotes wellbeing and identity develops character, values, mindset and confidence within the individual. Harry is currently studying Chinese and Politics of the Middle East at Durham University and is on an exchange year at Peking University in Beijing. Harry will graduate in 2018 and we sincerely hope that Harry won’t be a stranger to Wellington College Bilingual Shanghai.
On Wednesday, Yuki, Jane and I held a session with parents on ‘an hour in the life of early years’. It was very well attended and the parents switched to the mind of a four-year-old child before participating in carpet time and various other activities. Our focus was on the story of Brown Bear, Brown Bear. After discussing the days of the week and the weather (using songs, rhythm and actions) we read and sang the story of Brown Bear, Brown Bear. We discussed the animals throughout the story and sang songs about ducks and frogs. 5 Little Ducks is a maths song and the Little Green Frog song is a silly song. We then split the group in to smaller groups so that they could undertake the planned and free-choice activities. To the observer, it would appear that these activities had very little purpose other than to entertain, occupy and provide play. To the participants, they provided a very different experience. After the activities, the ‘children’ were brought back together and we discussed what we had learned.
Carpet / circle time
During carpet / circle time, pupils come together as a community of leaners. As a community, we share thoughts, listen
to one another, actively participate together, introduce new concepts and ideas, read together, sing together, and build
a sense of respect and support for one another (
www.preschool.org)
Singing
I have previously written on the benefits of singing. Singing supports language acquisition, increases self-confidence,
improves memory, promotes a positive mood and can be inspiring for creativity and relaxation.
Art and craft
The benefits of art and craft activities are manifold; imagination and self-expression, individual craftsmanship,
strengthening learning (academics), life skills (problem-solving, social skills) (
www.livestrong.org) visual processing (pattern
recognition, sequence detection) and executive function support, where children are encouraged to pay close attention
thereby improving focus and working memory skills (
www.parenting.com)
Phonics
We have previously written about the importance of letters and sounds through a structured programme of phonics. The
introduction of letter sounds is a multi-sensory experience with reinforcement of letter shape and a phased introduction
to reading. Singing actively supports phonics alongside listening activities.
Free choice – play dough
Talking, sculpting, sniffing, making impressions, creating shapes, investigating maths concepts, making art, sensory
experiences, practising cutting, developing fine motor skills – all from a large ball of squashy play dough!
Free choice – role play
The benefits of pretend play are well documented:
Through role play, children can express their emotions, feelings, act out what happens in the home and practise customs
and traditions. Children can learn about the world around them, how to behave in different social situations, observe
how others behave and strengthen language acquisition and self-confidence.
Free choice – small world
“The most amazing thing about small world play is that you can be inspired by any theme and use just about anything to
set it up. No two small worlds will ever be the same and every time a child engages in small world or sensory play, it
will be a different experience.” (
www.lemonlimeadventures.com)
At the end of the session, a parent approached me and said, “I can understand fully now why you do what you do here at
Wellington”. “Do you approve of it?” I asked, to which he responded with great emotion, “Thank you”. Once again, I was
left feeling humbled and privileged.
EdFest has epitomised the partnership between Wellington College Bilingual Shanghai and the Wellington College families.
Moreover, it has demonstrated our commitment to ensuring that the partnership continues to evolve and thrive, as I’m
sure EdFest will from this point on.
A recipe for cooked play dough!
Ingredients:
2 cups (500ml) of flour
1 cup (250ml) of salt
2 cups (500ml) of water
2 tablespoons (30ml) of cook oil
Several drops of food colouring (optional)
2 teaspoons (10ml) of Cream of Tartar*
Method:
- Mix the ingredients on heavy pan
- Stir frequently. Cook with low heat until it forms a ball and surface looks dry
- Take out from the pan. Cool for a few minutes
- Cool enough to touch. Knead it to ensure it is smooth and elastic
- When it is not in use, need to put in air tight container
* Cream of Tartar is food preservative. It makes play dough last longer. If you don’t have it, please put the container
in the refrigerator.
