At Gloucester PreSchool and Early Years Learning Centre, children are learning one of the most important lessons in life - and it has nothing to do with spelling or numeracy, or anything you're likely to read in a history book.
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They're learning about kindness.
It began with an initiative from teacher Jenny Robinson, who created a wellbeing program called the 'Our Healthier Lifestyle' project. However, when the children became aware of the severe flooding affecting those in the north of the State earlier this year, their focus became less about themselves and more about helping others.
"When we started this project, I'd made the assumption that the children would take it in the direction of their bodies and their health," Jenny said.
"But then the floods came and they were all interested in that and we found a childcare centre in Lismore that had flooded and all their toys and things have been lost in the floods."
It was this overwhelming natural disaster that provided the catalyst for a change in the program's direction, with the children wanting to reach out and help others in their time of need.
"They drew pictures and wrote little notes of support, in their own words from one child to another"
- Jenny Robinson
"We talked about what that would feel like and how we can help them feel better and happier. So we brainstormed and we had some ideas and the children ended up making them a happiness poster. They drew pictures and wrote little notes of support, in their own words from one child to another. We posted them some books and we sent that away to Lismore," Jenny said.
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Following their efforts supporting other children in Lismore, the preschoolers' attention then turned to members of their own community. This took the form of delivering care packages to homes within their neighbourhoods, with the children including a picture they drew along with a letter to the recipient. They even included treats like a teabag and some biscuits for the recipients to enjoy while reading the letters the children had written.
"The idea was that we would share happiness with other people with no expectation of anything in return. That was just us throwing happiness forward into our community. They chose their letterboxes simply by walking past and then they picked one they'd like to post it into," Jenny said.
The response from the community has been overwhelmingly positive, with many contacting the school offering thanks and sending thank-you notes to the children who wrote them letters.
Additionally, parents have noticed the positive effect it has had on their children, not only in the satisfaction of helping others, but the skills and leadership they are acquiring through the process, all of which fits in with the school's methodology.
"It's been a big learning curve and it does actually meet our early childhood curriculum very well in the fact that children are encouraged to be part of their community, they're encouraged to be independent, so they've been able to make decisions for themselves," Jenny said.
"They've been creative in the way that they've been able to make their own posters and use their own words to write their letters. So there's been so much in the Early Years Learning Framework that we've been able to incorporate into this project for sure."
So next time you hear someone talking about how selfish kids are these days, just mention the kids from Gloucester Pre School and Early Years Learning Centre. Maybe the kids will even send them a letter.
