By Sue Attrill
At the beginning of 2024 the leadership team of The River School met with Dr Kathleen Kesson online to talk about renewing and expanding our connection with Neohumanism across the school. We wanted our staff to have a chance to build relationship with Dr Kesson as a mentor and guide, and for all of us to plan a year program of inspiration and reconnection with Neohumanist practices.
At The River School every class timetables in an Inner Me time every day. Inner Me time has a structure that we all work with. We start with yoga, leading into meditation and complete with reflection or philosophical discussion. Our teachers are very experienced with this process, however we have new teachers who need models and ideas to assist them to develop their skills. Our teachers are also often at the mercy of pressure from curriculum demands and need a space in our staff meetings to enjoy meditation and Inner Me practices from lived experience.
So our conversation with Dr Kesson began as a way to connect new staff, share practice and to renew core practice across the school. Between us we worked out a program. We called the program:
Connecting to Nature through
-Senses
-Movement
-Art
-Meditation
We decided to step through each area (senses, movement, art, meditation) and focus on one per term. We asked Dr Kesson to provide a mentor relationship with our team. Our plan was to begin each term with a focus on one of the above areas with Dr Kesson or a staff member leading the process. Then we would allocate time in each staff meeting to explore and share good practice in each area. Teachers agreed to take turns in creating short presentations for the school in each weekly whole school circle to help the school community to hear and understand what we are doing.The first session was
Connecting to Nature through the Senses
Dr Kesson presented a workshop that refreshed our understanding of the importance of Neohumanism and began our exploration of using senses to connect with nature. We used a seed pod from our grounds and passed it around the group each of us finding a word to express how we are sensing through sight, touch, etc. Kathleen connected with us through an online platform which was very different than face to face however we made it work and it was a wonderful way to start the year.
The photo below is an activity that we shared with the team to draw our responses to the sensory experience with had with the seed pod.
Each teacher followed up this learning with activities in the classroom throughout the term.
Below are examples from our Puggles (Prep) class:
Exploring the School Environment using our Senses in Prep Class – Term 1 2024
Drawing and Describing Flowers.
The children enjoyed exploring the flowers around the school and drawing them. They were asked to draw their favourite flower and then use their senses to share a word/phrase to describe it. The children shared their art work and chosen adjectives with the rest of the school in an afternoon circle.
Using Individual Senses to Explore and Describe
The children participated in activities that required them to explore the school environment using just one sense. This involved them participating in a listening walk and explaining what they could hear, and a seeing walk to describe what they could see. The children drew four things they could hear or see on each walk around the school and discussed their findings with the teacher and learning assistant who scribed their findings for them.
When Term 2 arrived, we decided to focus on Connecting with Nature through Movement. Dr Kesson led us through a wonderful experience of experimenting with movement in an expressive manner to connect with nature. The photo left is the team in action and you can see the joy and fun that was had.
In Term 3 our amazing Art teacher Alieta Belle led us through a range of activities during staff meetings. We moved our meeting from the staff room to the art room to play with gel prints and clay. Here is the wonderful River School team enjoying and exploring Connecting with Nature through ArtThis last term of the year we are working on Connecting to Nature through Meditation. We are exploring meditation in our outdoor natural setting and tapping into the deep knowledge that many of our teachers have to share practices. Our teachers are leading each other in our staff meetings creating a connected collaborative experience for us all.