Post by Tricia Mohamed

I have followed Hayley Peacock's Reggio-inspired schools in Southeast England for a while, and David S.'s work in China before he joined her team. So when I got the chance to visit their research centre near London, I jumped at it. The space is beautiful. Every material is carefully set out, ready for children and adults to explore. Nothing is off limits here. Every idea gets questioned and tested in playful, meaningful ways that connect to the children's own world. Technology is everywhere too. Microscopes, cameras, scanners, music-making programmes, even a monitor that lets you touch a plant and hear a sound. Knowledgeable educators sit alongside the children, and they think and learn together. As adults, we found real joy. The giggling, the laughter, the sense of being reborn as children again. Children's thinking was visible on the walls, in their posters and their work. These children carry no fixed expectations, so anything feels possible. They are the research department of the human race, and here they get to be researchers. Hayley and her team are building something special. Something joyful. Something other schools could learn from, where attainment climbs because no one caps what is possible. For anyone serious about aligning their pedagogy with how children's brains were designed to learn, this must-visit. https://lnkd.in/eTqvtcDs Rachna Mathur it was great mulling over what we saw together. #EarlyYears #PlayBasedLearning #ReggioInspired #Playoneering #ChildrenAsResearchers