Tuesday 10th June

Reflective Journal

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. Risk management was also crucial to
have undertaken prior to the excursion to identify and assess the risk the excursion
may have on the safety, health and wellbeing of any student or staff member will on
the excursion, particularly as we were travelling by tram to and from the Queen
Victoria Market. As a professional learning community, we also discussed how we
would manage any risks identified. 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.
!1
Mary Buffon

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