Every child is important

This week is Education Week in New South Wales. St Ives Uniting Church celebrated the beginning of education week with a special service. The theme was Every Child is Important and the invited speakers at the service were my husband, David and myself.
David is the Coordinator, Rural and Distance Education Programs at NSW Department of Education and Communities and spoke on providing quality educational opportunities to families in isolated communities. I used the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) for Australia and discussed how we can use the concepts of "Belonging, Being and Becoming" when we think about our interactions with children. I ended with the following questions:

• Belonging: How can you ensure that children truly belong to your school, church, community?
• Being: How can you ensure that children are accepted to be who they are and as they are now? (not as future adults, but the children of now)
• Becoming: How can you support children to become active and informed citizens of the future?

David McLeod, Rev Dr Rob McFarlane, Sharynne McLeod