The past two weeks have been particularly special in our ELC, with Science Week and Book Week bringing so much enthusiasm to the girls' learning.
Science and literature are such natural fits for early childhood. Young children are already curious about how things work, eager to test their ideas and endlessly interested in stories. These special weeks gave us the chance to build on that curiosity and make these areas of learning especially visible.
During Science Week, Miss Sophie and Miss Danielle put on their laboratory coats and goggles and presented a science show for our ELC and Reception girls. The excitement continued as the girls worked together in small groups to conduct experiments of their own. Throughout the week, they returned to walking water and rainbow experiments, watching closely, noticing changes and offering their own explanations for what was happening. The ELC play provocations also gave the girls the opportunity to step into the role of scientist themselves.
Book Week was equally joyful. The girls loved reading and discussing the Early Childhood Book of the Year shortlist, while our Annie girls made bookmarks and created books of their own. The Book Week Parade was another wonderful highlight. We are enormously grateful to our families for the effort that went into helping the girls take part. We were so proud of the confidence with which our youngest Wilderness girls paraded in front of the older students and families. Seeing sisters, buddies and other familiar faces made the morning even more meaningful.
These celebrations also extended into Playgroup, where Miss Danielle brought both Science Week and Book Week to life for our youngest children and their families. It is one of the lovely strengths of our Playgroup that these children can already begin sharing in the experiences and traditions of the ELC, building familiarity, connection and a sense of belonging well before their school journey begins.
We are very grateful, too, to the staff across our school who welcomed the girls into the Library and Science spaces and shared their knowledge with them. Experiences like these do more than extend the girls' learning. They help them become familiar with the people and places beyond the ELC and strengthen their sense that they belong to the wider Wilderness community.
What stood out most across these two weeks was just how engaged the girls were in every experience. They asked questions, shared ideas, experimented, created and talked endlessly about what they were discovering. Science Week and Book Week may have provided the focus, but the learning itself felt very true to early childhood.
