The Learning Curve

Next Friday, parents and children from Year 1-6 are invited to our Autumn Celebration. This celebration is an opportunity for our community to gather together as we consider gathering in - or harvesting - food around the world.  

Whilst harvest festivals take place across the world at different times of year they have the common purpose of celebrating the hard work of those who contribute to cultivating, picking and storing food before beginning another season.

The Moon Festival in China, Thanksgiving in the USA, Sukkot in Israel, The Rice Harvest of Indonesia and Olivigando in Italy are all examples of how communities come together to express gratitude for another season of produce.  Although our traditions may be different because of where we live, each of these festivals focuses on the same values of celebrating with friends and family, expressing gratitude and building meaningful connections within our communities.

Here at Mougins, in the build up to our Autumn Celebration, it is important that our children learn about:

Appreciation. Our celebration is an opportunity for reflection and giving thanks, encouraging children to be grateful for all of the good and positive things in their lives.

Giving. Once food donations have been gathered they are donated to Les Petites Soeurs des Pauvres in Nice. With food donations going towards this good cause, children will be learning about kindness, sharing and those people who need our help.

Sustainable living.  Where food comes from is often a starting point for discussion and children's thoughts, which lead us to  talking about the different ways that children can take care of the earth.

So, wherever we have our roots, harvest is a wonderful celebration that brings people together in the spirit of gratitude—something we can all share no matter where we're from. The children will be working hard next week with their teachers on these key messages and we look forward to us all coming together next Friday in celebration.

The LaunchPad will not be participating in the Friday celebration,however they have been learning about farming and food. Thanks to Wen who talked about the Chinese tradition of making and eating Moon cakes and Mrs O’Mahoney who shared some of her fruit and vegetables with the children to explore smell, texture and form, they are beginning to appreciate how many ways there are of showing gratitude for our food.  Pictures of our younger children are shown below as a foretaste of what is to come next week from our older children.
 

Patricia Moon

Deputy Head of Primary