Wellbeing – Learning – BEST Programs 4 Kids

Part 1: The importance of play in bullying prevention – the proactive skills

4th March 2018

Bullying, Early Childhood, Wellbeing - Emotions, Wellbeing - Learning, Wellbeing - Social

Why the reduction of play time in the early years is gravely concerning With more and more time taken from play in the early years of education is it little surprise that there is an increase in bullying behaviours in the primary years. Whilst children may (and this is questionable) be leap-frogging ahead with the…

Reports: considerations and tips for every family

2nd December 2017

Claire Orange

Parenting, Wellbeing - Learning

Reports – yes, they’re around the corner and every child and family is going to be receiving a document that summarizes 40 weeks of learning with a single letter attributed to outcome and a comment of 2 to 3 sentences that describes effort, focus and growth points. While some children look forward with eager anticipation…

Is Anxiety Hiding in your Classroom?

1st November 2017

Claire Orange

Wellbeing - Emotions, Wellbeing - Learning

Children deal with many different types and causes of anxiety. The one thing every form of anxiety has in common is the tendency to lock up the brain, making it difficult for children to learn. So as educators it’s important to be able to recognise and address anxiety. Sometimes anxiety is obvious, like when a…

Guide to Making Mistakes – tips and tricks for teachers

30th August 2017

Claire Orange

Wellbeing - Emotions, Wellbeing - Learning

Helping children to embrace their learning opportunities There’s a lot of talk about mistakes, the ‘positivity’ of failure’ and the learning opportunities they bring. Mistakes are a regular visitor in the life of a child – but bringing for many a sense of shame, or perhaps denial that they even occur with the common refrains “It wasn’t me.” “I didn’t do it on purpose.” “It’s not my fault.” “You told me to do it that way!” Why is making mistakes so hard to do – and…

ADHD changing academic outcomes for children – the latest research

16th June 2017

Claire Orange

Early Childhood, Wellbeing - Learning, Wellbeing - Social

The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute released alarming research findings today about the impact of ADHD on the achievement of minimum standards in literacy and numeracy achievement. “A high number of Australian children with Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are struggling academically, with an alarming 40% of students failing to meet the literacy and numeracy (NAPLAN)…

The value of letting children make, and learn from, MISTAKES

5th April 2017

Claire Orange

Early Childhood, Parenting, Wellbeing - Learning

Failure – it’s a difficult word for most parents to slide in to any positive thinking about parenting children. In fact – it’s an ugly and negative word that we should be reframing into – Growing through mistakes Taking appropriate risks Learning from less than perfect outcomes These are far more palatable ways of describing…

Image representing friendships and learning

Friendships and Learning: You Can’t Have One Without The Other

9th February 2017

Claire Orange

Friendships, Wellbeing - Learning, Wellbeing - Social

Friendships are a critical part of a child’s learning process. Through friends children learn about themselves and others, and model new skills and social behaviours. The very act of making friends is one of the major developmental tasks of early childhood, helping children to feel good about themselves, adapt more easily to new environments and…

The Great Education Debate: to single sex educate or not?

1st December 2016

Claire Orange

Wellbeing - Learning, Wellbeing - Society

It is no secret that thoughts about schooling and outcomes of education are changing around the globe. Guildford Grammar School here in Perth, Western Australia announced their plans to become coeducational in the secondary years from 2018. It is one of many schools in Australia to transition from single sex schooling to coeducation in recent…

Let the children play

6th November 2015

Claire Orange

Early Childhood, Parenting, Wellbeing - Educators, Wellbeing - Learning, Wellbeing - Social

Play is a fundamental aspect of developing skills for life – here’s just a few skills that children learn as they play – that become part of their life toolbox: Language skills Creativity and the ability to pretend Fine and gross motor skills Motor sequencing and planning Cognitive planning and problem solving Social skills –…

It’s the little things that are the big things

6th October 2015

Claire Orange

Early Childhood, Wellbeing - Emotions, Wellbeing - Learning, Wellbeing - Social

In children’s mental health, it is often the little things that are the big things. Let’s take anxiety, for example. Children can have school refusal behaviours and when you dig down they might be anxious about: going out to play and finding a friend having to eat everything in their lunch box before playing knowing…