Episode 45: Children as Beings and Children as Becomings
Guest: Sam Williams
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Hosted by: Marina Robb
Sam Williams
In this episode, I'm speaking with Sam Williams, headteacher of Redcliffe Nursery School, a state-maintained nursery school in the centre of Bristol.
I particularly enjoyed the thoughtful exploration of his value of democracy and how this begins for nursery aged children. Really thinking about how a childs’s own agency, as well as being valued for what they think and say and do, links to this value of democracy.
Alongside this, the skills and care that is encouraged and needed in understanding and supporting what is meaningful for young people. We also discussed that when children really care about the natural world or our climate, they have a lot of empathy for the living world, but this can result in children feeling really helpless which is contributing to the rise in eco-anxiety.
However, if we develop agency in young people, then this has a positive affect on their wellbeing as they experience their ability to be heard, and then participate in the change they want to see. I do think as adults we have a powerful role to support young people’s voices and to advocate with them about what they care about. But For now, lets hear from Sam and his experience of working as a head teacher in Bristol.
In this episode, we dive into:
- Revisiting the purpose of education and what it means for Redcliffe Nursery school.
- Embracing play as a core ethos.
- Exploring the idea of children as beings and children as becomings.
- Highlighting the importance of getting lost in the moment.
- Shifting our thinking to an ecological perspective, releasing pre-determined outcomes.
- Looking at creating space for the environment and materials to have their own agency.
- Reflecting on how ecological identity develops through agency, listening, and voice.
- Examining how eco-anxiety can be eased through eco-empathy and activism.
- Highlighting the value of state-maintained nursery schools and the critical importance of equity.
Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com
Sam Williams
Sam Williams is headteacher of Redcliffe Nursery School, one of 12 Maintained Nursery Schools in Bristol UK. Previously, as a primary school teacher, Sam elevated the voices of children and the community to develop a climate change curriculum. He also worked with his partner, Millie, on developing an outdoor early years setting from their garden. Sam is interested in the relationships between the environment, children and adults and exploring and valuing the agentic forces of each. Sam was inspired to work at Redcliffe due to the strong vision and values of the nursery and the positive impact on children and families. Redcliffe Nursery School has been serving the community for over 60 years, embedded in the bottom floor of a block of high-rise council flats in a housing estate in the centre of Bristol. They pride themselves on many aspects of their provision, but have a special emphasis on play, belonging and enabling children and families to access wild spaces as well as the urban environment. Links:www.redcliffenurseryschool.co.uk Early Education Journals: https://app.sheepcrm.com/early-education/journal/ No.103 Cultures of sustainability Creating a curriculum with young children: https://www.froebel.org.uk/uploads/documents/FT-Creating-a-curriculum-with-young-children.pdf What I'm reading: Wildwood by Roger Deakin |
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Transcript
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(transcribed by AI so there maybe some small errors!)
Marina Robb: Hello, and welcome to the Wild Minds Podcast for people interested in health, nature based therapy and learning. We explore cutting edge approaches that help us improve our relationship with ourselves, others and the natural world. My name is Marina Robb, I'm an author, entrepreneur, Forest School outdoor learning and nature based trainer and consultant, and pioneer in developing green programs for the health service in the UK.
Thank you for listening to this episode of The Wild Minds Podcast. If you enjoyed it and want to help support this podcast, please subscribe, share and leave a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts. Your review will help others find the show. To stay updated with the wild mines podcast and get all the behind the scenes content. You can visit theoutdoorteacher.com or follow me on Facebook at the outdoor teacher UK and LinkedIn. Marina Robb,
The music was written and performed by Geoff Robb.
See you next week. Same time, same place