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The Hive Learning Community

As part of our Unit of Inquiry 'Who We Are', we are learning about ourselves and others as part of a learning community.

For many of the children, The Hive is their first experience in a learning community outside of the home and family. Over the past few years, this has been compounded by circumstances that have restricted them and their families from many community activities. Being their first experiences, we had predicted that it might take some time for the children to transition into the program and feel a sense of belonging. Our predictions so far have been wrong! The Hive children are thriving and demonstrating their amazing capabilities despite COVID restrictions.

If anything, they are relishing the opportunity to be with others, and we are observing the children’s active participation in collaborative play, demonstrating their developing social skills.

They share, take turns, and communicate with one another in all program areas. Whether in the sandpit discovering our new dinosaurs, taking turns with the glue as we created family portraits, or learning how to communicate to our peers that we are still using materials. The children constantly show us how to contribute to our learning community.

Our morning meetings have been filled with rich discussions about how we can care for ourselves, care for the environment and care for others.

“We need love and a hug.” William

“I take care of myself with a nap …” Maisie

“… that’s why we have rest time.” Charlie.

“We eat to grow.” Issy

“Get energy from eating too.” Bertie

“We can ask a teacher to care and sometimes get us a band-aid.” Fleur

“If you have a giant worry, you can tell a grown-up.” Maisie

“We can share our toys.” Dorothy

“And say please,” Charlie

“Taking turns” Atticus

“We can all help one another.” Charlie

“We need to put the lids back on the textas, or then they have to go in the bin.” Iris

“Outside, we water the plants.” Tom

“We take care of the trees.” Dorothy

“The water tanks spray the water out.” Charlie

“The water comes from the rain.” Raffi

“With pipes, the water comes down of Raffi’s roof.” Jack

“We can put the water we have finished with on the garden.” Zoe

“We could cuddle the land if we had ginormous long arms!” Charlie

Exploring local Bunurong, Boonwurrung culture and learning the laws of Bunjil and Waa have further supported our learning on caring.

“Bunjil is here to look after the school and us.’ Bertie

“Waa looks after the waves.” Raffi

“And the creek” Iris

“And Mud!” Jack

From these discussions, we have started to explore who else helps care for us in our community.


“Grown-ups, like teachers and grandparents, also look after us.” Bertie

“Even Dentists, I’ve been there before.” Charlie

“My mum is a dentist.” Dorothy.

“Emergency services look after us when there is a big flood.” Raffi

This interest links with our “How The World Works” inquiry, where we use play to make and explore theories on how the world works. We look forward to further investigating other community members who care for us and have even invited some special visitors to The Hive to share their expertise with us.


THE HIVE