Swanson School
Swanson school is a small school in the small town of Swanson which is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. The town of Swanson has a population of less than 1,500 people and has less than 1% of Auckland’s population. The Swanson School that I will be student teaching at is a charter school and the students wear uniforms. According to their website, the school population is composed of 29% Maori, 37% NZ European, 12% Pasifika, 8% Indian, and 15% from other ethnicities. Their school year consists of 4 terms. Each term is about 6 weeks long followed by a 2 week break in between each term. After term 4 there is a 6 week summer break. I am student teaching in a classroom with 25 students that are mainly “year 2” students (ages 6-7) with a few “year 1” students.
A unique feature of the Swanson School is their philosophy of “free play”. At Swanson School there are no rules during their break times or recesses. They believe student learn from their freedom. Their website says”in the playground children can be seen to be building huts, riding every wheeled contraption that exists all over the school, climbing trees, play fighting, sliding down mudslides, using stair rails as monkey bars, or just lying in the long grass and talking”. I encourage everyone to watch the videos below to get an idea of what free play is and how it works at Swanson School.
A unique feature of the Swanson School is their philosophy of “free play”. At Swanson School there are no rules during their break times or recesses. They believe student learn from their freedom. Their website says”in the playground children can be seen to be building huts, riding every wheeled contraption that exists all over the school, climbing trees, play fighting, sliding down mudslides, using stair rails as monkey bars, or just lying in the long grass and talking”. I encourage everyone to watch the videos below to get an idea of what free play is and how it works at Swanson School.
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