Is Mina Lopato a Reggio School?
I often have parents ask me if Mina Lopato is a 'Reggio school'? Reggio has become a buzz word that is bandied about by parents and educators alike, it has become the benchmark for progressiveness in education. With good reason.
A little background...Reggio Emilia is actually a small city in Italy. After World War 2, the devastated area and the town's inhabitants needed a school, one that would foster collaboration and critical thinking in the children and the community. In fact, the townspeople financed the school by selling, "a tank, nine horses and a military truck".
The Reggio Emilia Approach is an educational philosophy that is student centred, using self-directed, experiential learning in relationship driven environments. It makes teachers, parents and children equal shareholders in learning. It is an approach driven by the belief that children are capable of so much when they are provided with the right information, materials and tools.
Loris Malaguzzi, educator, psychologist and founder of this approach, wrote the 100 Languages of Children as a way of recognising the many ways children can express their ideas, thoughts, frustrations and feelings. He believed that "all children are competent and capable thinkers and learners as well as creative communicators and conversationalists". This is the fundamental belief that directs learning in a Reggio inspired school.
Children are competent and capable. They are creative and "speak" in many different languages. They need opportunities and tools and relationships to learn. This is an oversimplified summary of the Reggio approach, (please read more about it) but for me as an educator, it is the simplicity of a belief system that grew out of the need for and focus on basics, that holds its beauty.
Seeing children as capable, as having inherent rights and potential, especially in their early years sets the tone for an incredible learning experience.
This is why I speak often of opportunity, of how we are responsible for providing opportunities for learning. It is why I encourage engagement and relationships between children and staff, staff and parents, parents and children, all equal shareholders in learning. It is why I value creativity in everything we do but mostly it is why I look at children believing in them and their potential and why I fight for their right to develop that daily.
“Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practise any other virtue consistently.”