Reflective Journal Tuesday 10th June

Today was an excursion to the Queen Victoria Markets, which was part of the Inquiry topic for the prep classroom- farm to table. This excursion was part of a number of lessons, beginning with children discussing farms and what they believe comes from a farm, a visit to Collingwood Childrens farm, elaborating on what they already knew, adding what they had learned and then a trip to the Queen Victoria Markets to find the types of food we eat. I was part of the preparation and planning of the market trip. Throughout this preparation, I was able to see what processes and the duty of care needed to be undertaken whilst participating in an excursion. This included the participation/permission notes, what you need to state on these and any questions teachers need to ask parents. First-aid, allergies and anaphylaxis is also crucial whilst participating in an excursion, noting that we had 1 child who was anaphylactic and therefore observing the processes needed to be undertaken, including ensuring his epipen was packed and carried by the leader of his group. I was able to be accountable for one small group; this included constantly ensuring these children were by my side and taking responsibility for them throughout the travel by tram to the Queen Victoria Markets and back to the school, whilst also taking care of them throughout the visit through the market.

The children were encouraged to ask questions throughout the market trip, therefore enhancing and using their oral language to formulate questions and answers. This trip to the market extended the childrens everyday and technical vocabulary as we saw animal carcases, a range of different typed fish and meats including different parts of an animal including the tripe etc. The children were actively engaged to ask and answer questions, as teachers, parent helpers and a range of stallholders from the markets prompted and guided children to do this, continuously developing their understandings.

The trip to the market was therefore beneficial to the children as they extended upon their current knowledge, developing new understandings in regards to the farm to table inquiry topic. However, this excursion was also extremely beneficial to me as I was able to observe the processes and duty of care responsible when undertaking and participating in an excursion.

! 1Mary Buffon S00134651

Duty of care - Safety - Wellbeing - First-aid - Allergies

Risk Management: - What could go wrong? - Strategies to deal with these issues