We are a small primary learning environment
dedicated to the whole child.
We nourish children with the support they need
to grow tall as they explore the world.
Nestled amongst the natural beauty of Currumbin Valley,
in the Gold Coast Hinterland.
Our education philosophy is based on nature, connection, and relationship in order to foster safe learning spaces for our children to reach their innate potential.
High Trees Primary. Where children thrive.
WELCOME
PHILOSOPHY
Following in the footsteps of Woodline Primary, High Trees Primary was created from a core desire to bring emotional safety, a deep sense of wonder for the land around us, and a welcome expression of self to an educational environment which can foster a love of learning and curiosity.
An ever-growing body of research supports the fact that children learn best when immersed in nature.
Children need to feel emotionally safe in order to learn at their deepest and highest capacity. We believe that if children feel part of a connected learning community, they will naturally become curious learners, and ultimately, balanced children (thank you Woodline Primary for allowing us to use the magical and intentional language which you have brought into your learning environment).
We believe that High Trees Primary’s approach to education will lead to learners who not only maintain, but strengthen, their innate joy and curiosity; learners who learn so deeply that they learn for life rather than for a test; learners who value emotional intelligence as much as academic intelligence; learners who know that unintended outcomes are simply an opportunity for growth and further discovery.
We are a safe learning environment dedicated to the whole child, nourishing them with the support they need to grow tall as they explore the world.
PLACE
We are a small primary learning environment nestled among the natural beauty of Currumbin Valley, in the Gold Coast Hinterland.
An ever-growing body of research supports the fact that children learn best when immersed in nature, and natural light.
We encourage children to learn through nature and with nature. We utilise progressive learning styles to balance our connection to the land and who we are in this modern age, whilst at the same time drawing from the proven land management practices of our indigenous forebears.
High Trees seeks to create innovative thinkers as well as conscious guardians of the earth.
HERITAGE
We acknowledge and admire the indigenous heritage of Currumbin Valley, and seek to lean on this wisdom to ensure that indigenous land management practices are a strong part of the future of our land.
We worked with Christine Slabb, renowned Bundjalung Artist + Graphic Designer who brought to life our High Trees logo, learning seeds and care stages. We resonated with her work for its deep connection to the earth, the hinterland and the coast, and it is her beautiful work you will see across our branding.
We have engaged cultural intelligence alliance Banaam to guide us in informing the children’s learning with indigenous context and the adult team's respect for indigenous management practices.
Our blessing ceremony on the 20th December 2023, run by Gudjinburra Dance Group, under the leadership of Malachi Urquhart, allowed us to honour the land and its ancestors, and ask permission to educate a special group of children here.
VALUES
We are driven by a unique set of values, developed via the place attachment, dependence, and identity theories
of environmental educators and place-based learning advocates.
The value framework is called:
Learning Seeds.
CARE STAGES
Just like a seed becoming a tree, a child's progression through primary education can seem like a huge journey, so our learning environment is structured into three care stages, to ensure each child receives the nourishment they need to grow tall, and be whole-istically ready to enter the world as high trees.
Children join us as sprouts, grow into seedlings, move into saplings, and leave us as high trees ready to branch out into the world with strength, deeply rooted in the knowledge and confidence of who they are as a person
SAPLINGS
10-12 YEARS
SPROUTS
< 6 YEARS
SEEDLINGS
6-9 YEARS
CHILDREN
We believe that children are active protagonists.
We believe that a strong educational outcome starts with a strong relationship between the learning environment and the home.
We believe that when adults, children, and the environment all have an equal voice, and are celebrated for their individual value, education becomes effortless.
We believe that learning needs to be at times individual, and at times a group construction.
We believe that if children are celebrated in the learning and growth which is afforded by arriving at an unintended destination in their journey, rather than made to feel that the path they elected was a mistake, then their desire to keep learning will be ignited rather than extinguished.
We believe that the environment within which a child learns deeply impacts the strength with which they learn.
At High Trees we intend to honour all of this for our children.
We believe that children are connected, capable, and creative. Motivated and inspired by joy and curiosity.
Thanks to inspiration from the Gudjinburra Dance Group, we intend to honour ‘respect and contribution’ at the heart of every relationship within our High Trees community. We will expect this of the children, our guides, the executive team, the families, and everyone who enters our space.
We believe stressed brains cannot learn, and that nature is the most effective way to calm a stressed brain.
We believe that joy creates wonder.
We believe that wonder creates curiosity, which in turn allows a child to learn for life rather than for an arbitrary test.
We believe that deep learning helps children to achieve their ultimate potential, which in turn promotes a strong belief in self.
EDUCATION
High Trees Primary will follow the Australian Curriculum with a play-based pedagogy based on the Reggio Emilia Approach, and a nod to Montessori. High trees is proud to be modelled on, and mentored by, Woodline Primary.
We believe that through deep connection, compassion, and understanding, all children can thrive in an educational setting. We believe that education not only should be, but needs to be, joyous. Our educational approach will include:
Strong relationships at its core
Play at its essence
Igniting of the innate love of learning
A deep sense of community, and belonging
Confidence in expression
Connection, love, and laughter at its heart
CONNECTION
Connection will be the beating heart of High Trees. With connection comes belonging, security, identity, and ultimately confidence. Connections between home and High Trees, between children and guides, between adults and children, between children and children….every connection will be encouraged and supported. With connected confidence comes wisdom.
Our intention behind a connected community is to ensure that children feel safe and welcome. In feeling emotionally safe, the children at High Trees Primary will not only enhance their capacity for growth and intellectual expansion, they will discover laughter and joyous learning.
High Trees Primary is an unashamedly non-punitive learning environment. We will hold strong boundaries where necessary. We will not apologise for these as they will always be in the best interests of the individual, and the collective. We will explain the why, and then welcome and hold space for any and all reactions to these boundaries with openness, warmth, and compassion.
The emotional wellbeing of each child is at the forefront of our approach. By creating a community in which each child feels that they truly belong, it feels at once safe and exciting to be brave, and to venture into the unknown and uncomfortable
Our class sizes do not exceed 18 children and we will always have less than 100 children in total.
Each age group will have both a Guide, and a Guide’s Aid, meaning that our Guide : Child ratio in our learning pods will not exceed 1 : 9.
Our ultimate goal is to encourage children to take risks, and to know that risk taking is not only safe, but courageous.
We believe that children who feel safe around risk feel safe around life.
OUR HEARTFELT THANKS
High Trees Primary would like to acknowledge and deeply thank the entire team at Woodline Primary for your endless inspiration, advice, expertise, and mentorship.
Without your guidance and unwavering support, High Trees Primary would not exist.
In particular, we would like to thank Lael Stone for being our guiding light, vision, and strength.
This is our baby Lael, but it is also yours.
Our gratitude is endless.
Lael's sage words say it all :
'Research actually shows that when children feel safe to learn, which means they feel free of judgement and criticism, when they are treated with kindness and respect, where they have autonomy over their bodies and their learning, and they are given much love and celebration about the unique differences in who they are, then what happens is their neurological systems become fully operational, and their capacity for growth and learning increases.’
So our aim at [High Trees, as with] Woodline Primary, ‘is that when children spend time with us at our school, not only do they learn about the world, but they develop critical life skills, such as emotional intelligence, growth mindset, critical thinking and a love of failure. Because every time you fail you realise 'oh, there's just so many more options I haven't yet explored', and more than anything, they learn to become compassionate citizens of the earth.’
We believe that if we support children's emotional wellbeing,
the learning becomes effortless, and infinite.
WE ARE PRETTY SOCIAL AROUND HERE…
Follow us: @hightreesprimary.au
REGISTER YOUR INTEREST
High Trees Primary is currently expected to open early 2025.
We are currently accepting expressions of interests which require a small deposit.
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‘Our task is to help children communicate with the world using all their potential, strengths and languages,
and to overcome any obstacle presented by our culture.’
— Loris Malaguzzi (from the catalogue of the exhibit ‘The Hundred Languages of Children’)