As you may be aware Jade and I have recently been away for 10 days in London. Soraya continued to manage The Nest and met all of the wonderful mummies, daddies and carers across The Hive and introduce herself. Thank you to everyone who works across The Hive for covering us as we took time out for our professional development...and a trip on the London Eye!
The course, entitled "RIE Foundations: Theory and Observation" looked at the RIE approach, which stands for Resources for Infant Educarers.
Its vision honours infants and young children as equal members in relationships, and is dedicated to creating a culture of people who are authentic, resourceful and respectful. It is believed when allowed to unfold in their own way and in their own time, children discover, manifest and inspire the best in themselves and in others. (RIE Foundations Curriculum Guide)
The course gave us the opportunity to question and re-evaluate our care of the children in The Nest and by extension The Warren, and incremental steps will be implemented across The Hive come September, and we'll be sure to communicate what these changes are.
We looked at ways in which we could improve the quality and consistency of care and the relationship this had to the children’s learning.
The RIE seven key principles and these are:
• Basic trust in the child
• A safe environment
• Time for uninterrupted play
• Freedom and opportunities to interact with other children
• The importance of involving the child in care giving activities – nappy changing, dressing, bathing and feeding
• For carers to be sensitive observers
• For carers to set clear and constant limits and expectations for the child.
We were in a group of 12 adults, and our course leaders were, RIE parenting expert, Deborah Carlisle Solomon and her Practicum student, Michelle. We had a very valuable learning experience and would like to thank Deborah and Michelle for making the course really enjoyable and informative.
We would also like to thank Charlotte, Jayne and Gemma for giving us this great opportunity, as it came at considerable expense. However, we're really looking forward to passing this information on and continuing to assist our children in their learning as successfully as possible.
Thanks for reading!
Madi and Jade