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Images on these pages are of children at Ampe Kenhe Apmere (Congress Child Care Centre) in Alice
Springs, which has designed its learning environments to accommodate family groups.
Margaret illustrates how this approach supports
children to assist and nurture each other,
describing how she recently witnessed a young
child climbing a plank, with an older child
standing holding the plank steady. She explains
how the older child “was giving him a chance to
actually explore slowly but he was there guiding
him.”
Congress has paid particular attention to designing
its learning environments to accommodate
family groups. To meet the challenge of multiple
ages in one setting, it has designed environments
that cater to any age group, and have opened the
centre up so children are free to play indoors or
outdoors.
Initially staff found that by having all activities
available in all rooms some activities weren’t getting
used, as Margaret explains, “because there
wasn’t enough of them in every room and there
wasn’t a good space”.
They therefore redesigned their approach to create
specialised rooms within the centre, including
rooms for creative arts, scientific discovery and
construction, finer arts, and a room for quieter
activities and finer cognitive work.
While they have a standard way that each room is
set up, educators explore what they need to add,
take away or change to enhance the children’s
experience in this area according to their interest.
Following staff training on brain development and
trauma, staff discussed how child care environments
do not provide children with opportunities
for breaks during the day.
Their new learning environment therefore affords
children opportunities for time out, as they can
choose to remove themselves from environments
whenever they wish and go outside or to a quiet
space.
Margaret believes that it is vital for children to
have time when they can withdraw and be quiet,
and also to have control over which environment
they want to be in. She says: “I think that’s
another one of the reasons why some of the
behaviour issues have disappeared too, so that
children who want to be by themselves can actually
find…a quiet space right away.”
Based on a discussion with then Congress Branch
Manager Margaret Harrison, conducted in May
2012.
SNAICC Annual Report 2012 43