Once you have a good established local excursion culture it is easier to go further into the community. These excursions are more complex as they involve transport by bus and therefore are planned well in advance, rather than our spontaneous walking excursions.  The philosophy behind the excursions remains the same, however: children must go out into their communities in order to build a sense of connection and belonging.

This is the first of three articles Su and Lauren are sharing with Amplify! readers about how they manage so many outings and excursions at their 56 place service. They hope their experience might help other educators to build excursion planning into their ‘normal’ program.

Today Emma Pierce of Early Childhood Intervention Australia joins Amplify’s guest writers with a companion piece to Rebecca Thompson’s series on Inclusive Practice.  Her story of Xavier will ring bells for many educators and directors, and her top tips for difficult parent meetings on child development are simple but well-tested. 

We know as early childhood professionals that children learn in a range of environments and in different ways. Children should regularly experience opportunities to go ‘outside the gate’. Community engagement aligns nicely with the benefits of excursions for children also.

This post is going to sound strange coming from me, a dyed-in-the-wool advocate for inclusion and early intervention, but bear with me while I question the prevailing wisdom which says that if you don’t have those hard conversations with the family then you cannot be doing your job for the child in question.

You don’t call your work ‘child care’ any more, and neither should we.  CEO Diane Lawson and our Board Directors write for Amplify! and the upcoming issue of Rattler magazine about the changes underway for Community Child Care Co-operative as it begins trading as Community Early Learning Australia.

Two weeks ago our guest writer Doreen Blyth ‘broke the internet’ with her reflection on whether Outside School Hours Care was treated as the middle child of the education and care sector.  Today she returns with another reflection, this time keeping her story’s twist to the very end.