Bluehill School

Weeks ago this was lifeless, leafless and had a droopy stem. Thanks to one of our Jr Kinder boys who would water it from his own drinking flask.
So happy it's green & growing again. 🌱🪴

Moving UP Day ‼️🎈🩵🌟

A well-known study from Natural Resources Institute Finland, published in Science Advances, investigated how nature-based playgrounds affect children’s health. In this 28-day experiment, researchers modified urban daycare yards by adding forest soil, grass, and plants, and observed around 75 children aged 3–5. Compared to children playing in standard urban environments (with gravel or artificial surfaces), those exposed to natural materials showed a noticeable increase in the diversity of beneficial microbes on their skin and in their gut.

These microbial changes were linked to improvements in immune system function, including higher levels of immune-regulating cells such as T-cells and better balance in immune responses. However, the study did not claim a dramatic or instant “boost” in overall health; instead, it showed early signs of improved immune regulation, which may help protect against inflammatory and autoimmune conditions over time. The findings suggest that regular contact with natural environments can play an important role in supporting children’s developing immune systems.

A child’s balance system develops
in its own timeline.
You may not realize it, but balance is extremely important to develop & supports a child’s future learning. Children who have fine-tuned their balance skills when they were younger have better:

⚖ Attention and focus
⚖ Core stability to copy notes from the chalkboard
⚖ Can sit for longer periods of time in their chair
⚖ Provides stability for handwriting and reading development

I think probably kindness is my number one attribute in a human being. I'll put it before any of the things like courage or bravery or generosity or anything else. Kindness - that simple word.
To be kind - it covers everything, to my mind.
If you're kind, that's it.
Roald Dahl

There are many benefits when they turn book pages: fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, focus, and attention, etc.

Sweden is championing a return to books and paper instead of screens in schools - why?

Laptops and tablets had been the norm in Swedish classrooms since the early 2010s.

But now, the country is going back to basics, reintroducing physical textbooks, limiting screen time, and investing heavily in school libraries

"We jumped on that [digital] train very fast, and now more and more people realise that we should not have done that," says Joar Forssell, an education spokesman for Sweden's Liberal Party.

"The impact on students, the impact on how schools work, has been very bad, so we agree that it was a mistake, but we're changing it back," he says.

Sweden's international test scores are falling compared to other nations, and there's growing concern about the impact of screens on pupils' concentration.

And, in a nation where the vast majority of pupils have their own phone before they turn ten, scientists say there could be implications for young children's development.

"Too much screen during this very critical developmental phase can essentially impact your language development, your cognitive development, impulse control," says Sissela Nutley, a neuroscientist who runs digital health programmes in schools.

But not everyone agrees with going back to books.

"We can't go back wishing for a school system that it was like in the 1950s," says Linnéa Stenliden, professor of education at Linköping University.

She argues that the new policy could bring about a digital divide in a world that has moved away from books and paper, with some children understanding new technologies better than others. "Digital competence is actually needed," she says.

🎧 Learn more on The Documentary: https://bbc.in/3OrNOuj

Literature laureate Nadine Gordimer was deeply involved in the South African anti-apartheid struggle.

Gordimer started writing from an early age, and published her first story at 15. Her works comprise novels and short stories in which the consequences of apartheid form the central theme.

Under apartheid, several of Gordimer's books were banned in South Africa. Her novels depict complicated personal and social relationships, set against the backdrop of the emerging resistance movement against apartheid and later, liberated South Africa.

She was awarded the Nobel Prize as a prosaist "who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity."