Welcome parents and carers to the 4/5 Neighbourhood and our first blog post of 2023.
Over the past two weeks the 4/5 neighbourhood has begun responding to the Welcome Project. As a neighbourhood we have been thinking deeply about what welcome looks like in our community and how we feel safe and included.
We started the year with a stimulating discussion around what a positive and productive neighbourhood looks like/sounds like and feels like.
After sharing our ideas as a group we documented them using Post It notes. Some of our ideas included:
- Welcome sounds calm and welcoming (Claudia I)
- Welcome feels comfortable (Ren)
- Welcome feels safe (Seb F)
- Welcome means sharing and being respectful (Charlie)
- Welcome looks calm and peaceful (Maggie)
- Welcome feels like belonging (Anna)
- Welcome feels like joy (Alex S)
- Welcome looks like people helping (Claudia)
The purpose of these discussions is for everyone to feel welcome (Ethan) and to help people make others feel welcome (Lucy) by doing things like being respectful (Eva), being kind and checking that they have friends (Claudia).
In the neighbourhood we have also been sharing positive messages with each other (Alina), helping people feel a sense of belonging (Claudia) and welcoming new members of the PHPS community (Anna) by sitting next to them and talking to them. (Tate)
We have also been involved in collaborative games. During these games we had to work in teams to get into order according to shoe size and height and other things like swimming ability (Emma). It was challenging and we had to talk about it first (Annie) and listen to other group members (Maggie). This helped build our communication skills (Charlie).
As a neighbourhood we feel that we have been working well together and have enjoyed getting to know new people such as Elena, Cassius, Ren & Ethan.
Some thoughts about settling into the 4/5 neighbourhood:
The neighbourhood has been really good, much more fun than our old school (Cassius and Ren).
Meeting new people has gone better than I thought it would. (Ethan)
Stay tuned for our next post.
The ⅘ Neighbourhood