Escaping the winter blues and seeking sun and sand

The Koori Curriculum was kissed by the warm rays of the winter sun these past few weeks. This month Director, Jessica Staines got to spend some time with educators working near two of Australia's most stunning beaches.

August began at a brand new centre called Oakseed in Crows Nest. Whilst Jessica was there to yarn about ways the team could create culturally inclusive environments it was evident that this team already had a great handle on things.

Every play space had been perfectly curated with Aboriginal perspectives being celebrated throughout. The educators had taken care to research reputable suppliers and Jessica found many books from Aboriginal publishing companies, art work and pieces from Aboriginal owned and operated art centres and the odd item or two from the Koori Curriculum online shop.

Next stop for the team was a visit to Port Macquarie Community Children's Centre. Here Jessica spent a whole day with educators from Wauchope, Port Mac and Taree workshopping how they could create culturally inclusive learning areas, embed Aboriginal perspectives into their program and use Aboriginal pedagogies.

Whenever Jessica gets the opportunity to visit services outside of the city she is always blown away by the massive outdoor learning environments and play spaces that educators and children get to play with. This service in particular had taken particular care to embed Aboriginal perspectives in their physical pay spaces both inside and out.

The Koori Curriculums visit to Port Macquarie was over way too soon, luckily for Jessica and the team they traded the stunning shore of NSW's North Coast to the yellow sands of Sydney's Coogee Beach.

At the Coogee Legions Club Jessica delivered a workshop to a fun young group of OOSHC educators. Jess had a great time with this group brainstorming and planning ways that they could embrace local Aboriginal culture in their program. 

This month the Koori Curriculum also had the opportunity to revisit Uniting Caringbah Preschool. Jessica has been working closely with Uniting over the past two years delivering an Educators Yarning Circle for their organisation which Director of Caringbah Preschool, Alana had the opportunity to participate in. The Yarning Circle came together a few times over a twelve month period to network, workshop ideas and participate in cultural excursions facilitated by Jessica. 

Following on from the Yarning Circle the Koori Curriculum delivered their Embedding Aboriginal Perspectives in Early Childhood Curriculums workshop to the educators at Caringbah and this month she went back to deliver the Aboriginal pedagogy workshop.

It has been great to revisit this team and see how far they have come on their journey discovering innovative ways they can include culture in their curriculum. 

The Koori Curriculum has a had a great start to their month with more fun adventures to follow in the coming weeks!