When Andrew Lowry asked me to speak to you about the passion I have for Early Childhood education, and the vision we, as a school, have for the new Infants Block, I thought I would be speaking to a room of 50 or so people - never did I expect that I would be standing before 3 times as many people until Janine told me the final numbers for tonight! I decided that I could choose to be daunted about standing in front all 135 people, OR I could embrace the opportunity to communicate my passion for teaching – guiding children with their love of learning, their love of God and as well as imparting the exciting direction Covenant Christian School is planning to undertake for the Infants Department throughout 2009 to 2010 and beyond.
A number of people here tonight might still perceive the Infants years as those where their child played with trains all day, made castles in the sandpit and did a bit of finger painting on the side. Early Childhood Education is far more than this. These are the years where your child learns to read and write, add, subtract, divide and multiply. At Covenant they develop their knowledge of Christ and what He has done for them – what better way to equip your child! Each child will learn to speak confidently in front of their peers, interact socially with others and develop both their self confidence and self esteem. To provide children with these tools is to equip each one of them with the stepping stones needed to cope with the demands of later schooling.
We are all here tonight to see and hear about the vision of the new Infants Block. This block will not only provide us, as a school, with a fabulous environment to educate the children in all the ways I have previously mentioned, but it will also impact our greater school community. This new Infants area will help to boost enrolments, in turn improving the opportunities available for senior students as well.
I have been privileged to be involved with some of the decision making regarding this building and, I can assure you, that it is going to be a teacher’s dream! There will be a common area which will be able to contain all K – 2 or 3-6 students for Infants or Primary Assemblies. Other communal activities such as incursions and visiting speakers will also be able to present in this area, allieviating the pressure to accommodate the K - 6 students in other areas of the school. The classrooms are large with lots of windows to let in natural light and we are presently looking at the vast opportunities for technological advancement within each classroom.
The attached pdf gives you an idea of the development which is going to take place.
K-2 Building Plans (754 KB)
SLIDE 1 – This is an aerial view of our school and you can see exactly where the new building will be situated.
SLIDE 2 – Once again, here is an aerial view of the school as it presently is.
SLIDE 3 – Here is the external view of the new building. You can see that there is plenty of shaded area for the children to play under and the modern exterior makes the building not only attractive but also innovative in its design.
SLIDE 4 – This slide shows the ground plan for the building. Here, all 6 classrooms can be seen along with the wonderful common area that will be keenly used by us all. The next slide shows the internal view of the common area (SLIDE 5) and you can see the small stage area that will be positioned at the front. The adjoining classrooms will have a sliding glass door which will enable the teachers to supervise this area safely from their classrooms.
Please join with me in embracing this new stage of development for Covenant Christian School. We are so very blessed to be part of such a community where the needs of the students and vision of the school is continually addressed and advanced.
Felicity Johnston
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