Is Silky Oak right for your child?
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We encourage an active engagement with the environment. This involves exploring the local community including Pebbly Beach, One Mile Beach, Red Head Beach, around Wallis Lake, visiting the local library, playing in the garden and the adjoining bush, climbing trees, building fires and cubbies. We expect children to be able to walk safely to these spaces, with adult supervision of course!
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Independence in self-care tasks such as toileting, eating and verbal communication of needs are a must to join the program.
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According to children’s maturity and abilities, we may teach them to use whittling knives, axes, saws and other tools.
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Similarly, we may teach students how to light fires, and may expect them to start and maintain fires in fireplaces.
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We foster democratic principles where students are involved in the decision making and guidelines of the activities.
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While we offer a mixture of child-led play and guided activities, we always use explicit teaching when it comes to safety.
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We comfort students who are upset, we hug, and support each other. We will use creative movement and dance which may involve touching each other in a safe and consensual way.
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We will interview children who want to come here, but previous academic success or failure is not a factor in that interview. Destructive and/or self-destructive behaviour is a factor. We’re very pleased to see evidence of creative interests, selflessness and empathy in students who apply for places.
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We don’t provide written reports on students at the end of every semester or year. But we are always happy to meet with parents and children to discuss children’s interests and progress.
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We are very happy for parents to be involved in the day-to-day life of Silky Oak Community. However we are not happy for parents to impose their own agendas on the program, and we don’t tolerate parents who attempt to bully teachers, or other children.
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If you share our values and are interested in joining us, we would be honoured to share the magic of learning in nature with your family.