Families at Guardian King Street Make Wishes for Their Children
As part of Guardian Childcare & Education King Street’s transition process, the team invited families to share their hopes and aspirations for their children’s learning journey in 2020.
The responses, which are fondly referred to as ‘wishes for your children’, are displayed in an installation at the entrance to the Centre, and will be used to influence the program throughout the year.
“The project started out of a desire to establish strong, reciprocal connections with our families and let them know how important their input into our program is, and how valuable they are to our decision making,” shares Educator, Mickaela.
“We recognise that families are children’s first and most influential teachers, so we encouraged our families to provide a ‘wish’ they had for their child during their time in our care.”
By inviting the families to share their wishes for the children this year, the King Street team launched a collaboration between the Centre, families and children.
The result is a meaningful art installation showcasing the families’ wishes accompanied by self-portraits that the children created in the Centre’s art atelier.
“Organising the collaboration started by with our Educational Leader, Maddie, reaching out to families via letter to explain the concept and the purpose of it,” says Mickaela.
“We encouraged the families to think about physical, social, emotional, language or cognitive development aspects when writing a wish for their child.”
“The families were excited to see the display which incorporated both their wishes for the child, and the children’s representation of themselves, and they were particularly impressed by the children’s efforts with their self-portraits.”
“By collaborating with both the children and their families, we were able to create a beautiful hanging display which reinforces the importance we place on family input and feedback.”
In addition to bringing joy to both the families and Educators, the wishes installation has fascinated the children, who are often spotted admiring the spinning portraits as they sign in each morning.
The children are able to recognise which portrait is their own through recollection and the distinguishing features they included in their portraits, offering a valuable learning opportunity exploring self.
“To extend on this project and emphasise the importance of children’s voice, we plan on asking the children what wishes they have for themselves, which will then be added to the display too,” shares Mickaela.
“We are also in the process of organising a joint morning tea for our pre-kindy and kindergarten learning groups, hosted on the weekend.”
“We hope that this experience allows families to connect with one another in a relaxed environment, without the rush of weekday schedules.”
Mickaela and the team look forward to hosting the upcoming morning tea, and using the families’ wishes to inform their learning programs in 2020.
Looking for the right Childcare Centre for your Family?
Submit your details and a member of our Concierge Team will be in touch to discuss what you need and how we can help you experience something more than childcare.
We'll be in touch soon.
