THE PHILOSOPHY
Bambini House’s philosophy is deeply inspired by the Reggio Emilia educational approach, founded by Northern Italian educator Loris Malaguzzi. Collaboration between our educators, our children and their families is vital and we constantly strive to nurture and support this connection.
As educators we wholeheartedly believe that each child is competent, inventive, imaginative and brimming with ideas and theories about the world around them. Hence we encourage independence and self-expression by embracing a holistic approach to education that is child-centered. We have a deep respect for each child and therefore nurture their individual learning process by recognising potential and provoking thought, action, conversation and artistic expression. Bambini House provides each child with a comfortable and happy environment to learn in; they can be themselves and have, at their fingertips, endless opportunities to encounter, interact and accomplish. As educators we bring our knowledge to the children in an authentic yet playful manner.
We also honour our sense of place as a learning experience. Bambini House is a heritage building steeped in tradition and we are dedicated to celebrating it through our daily activities. The marks we have made on the building as a community are profound; each room of the house is imbued with our stories, theories, artworks and experiences; a pedagogical documentation within itself.
The Hundred Languages
No way. The hundred is there.
The child
is made of one hundred.
The child has
a hundred languages
a hundred hands
a hundred thoughts
a hundred ways of thinking
of playing, of speaking.
A hundred always a hundred
ways of listening
of marveling, of loving
a hundred joys
for singing and understanding
a hundred worlds
to discover
a hundred worlds
to invent
a hundred worlds
to dream.
The child has
a hundred languages
(and a hundred hundred hundred more)
but they steal ninety-nine.
The school and the culture
separate the head from the body.
They tell the child:
to think without hands
to do without head
to listen and not to speak
to understand without joy
to love and to marvel
only at Easter and at Christmas.
They tell the child:
to discover the world already there
and of the hundred
they steal ninety-nine.
They tell the child:
that work and play
reality and fantasy
science and imagination
sky and earth
reason and dream
are things
that do not belong together.
And thus they tell the child
that the hundred is not there.
The child says:
No way. The hundred is there.
-Loris Malaguzzi (translated by Lella Gandini)
Founder of the Reggio Emilia Approach