A typical day at Co-op
On a typical day, our parents and children arrive around 9am, and settle into the day with free play indoors or outdoors.
At 9:15am, we have a short morning meeting including an Acknowledgement of Country and usually a song. We discuss the plan for the morning, and children and adults raise any activities they would like to offer in the hour or so before lunch.
Directly after meeting, we have 'Focus Time', a dedicated block where skills in writing, reading, thinking, maths, science or humanities are developed in groups. We aim to keep these structured explorations play based and practical, using relevant real life examples to build core skills. By 11am, all groups have typically finished their 'Focus Time' and can move on to free play or other adult- or child-led activity offerings.
At midday, we encourage the children to have lunch, but they are also free to eat whenever they feel the need for it.
The afternoon meeting starts at 12:45pm and is when children and adults share any pressing topics and talk about the afternoon ahead (and sometimes sing, or read stories). Children take it in turn to chair the afternoon meetings and everyone is encouraged to contribute.
Afternoon meeting is followed by two glorious hours of eclectic child and adult offerings, including student clubs and more free play. Often this means that there is a variety of things happening all at once: elaborate role play, games (often with a focus on either maths or physical exercise), animal watching and journalling, cubby building, bushwalking, drawing, painting, playing music, reading, cooking, putting on costumes and making up plays, and so on.
Every week we set aside some time in our schedule (usually on Wednesdays) for guided art and music. Marimbas, violins, cellos, boomwhackers... you'll hear it all.
Once a week we also have a dedicated Student Council meeting. All students in grades 3-6 are part of the Council and they are encouraged to discuss aspects of the school and any suggestions for changes they may have.
Finally, before school ends at 3.15pm, there is a clean up meeting! Kids and adults take turns to complete our reflective journal as well as several daily chores around the school, such as feeding the chickens, cleaning up play and study areas, vacuuming, and so on.