Thank you so much for reaching out! We’ve really enjoyed using Child Nation at St Kieran’s — it was such an engaging and well-designed program.

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Our students absolutely loved the independence of being able to move at their own pace and make choices within the activities. Even some of our more reluctant learners participated fully, and we found that the neurodivergent students were well catered for. The sense of ownership and freedom really appealed to all year levels.

We assisted some of our lower Year 3 students with reading, as literacy levels vary, so a sound option to have the questions read aloud could be a great feature to consider in the future.

During the ‘free-ranging’ parts of the incursion, we established clear physical boundaries and were very explicit about staying within them. This worked really well, and the students remained engaged and on-task.We actually completed the experience multiple times: twice with our combined Year 3–6 cohort and three times with one of our Year 4 classes. I integrated Child Nation into our drama unit, and it also complemented our broader focus on managing emotions, challenging ourselves, stepping out of our comfort zones, and being creative.

The students particularly loved the goodie bags and collecting materials for each challenge. The window graffiti activity was a huge hit as they found it so much fun to do something they don’t usually get to do!

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Our neurodiverse students have embraced the Child Nation platform as a
creative, confidence-building tool that encourages them step out of their comfort
zones and have some fun. For students very used to structured routines that
support self-regulation, the platform provides a liberating space to explore their
feelings and ideas. It ticks the boxes of mindfulness, co-regulation, hands-on and
self-paced learning, fostering original thinking beyond pre-learned, habitual
responses. Through the guided scenarios promoting engagement with outdoor
settings and the reinterpreting of familiar spaces, the students have been
strengthening their independence, connecting with their emotions and
developing self-expression. The unique adventures, enhanced by thoughtful
touches like the tote bags, make the activities feel special and distinct from our
usual classes, helping with the engagement of some of our more distracted
learners.

 

In a nutshell, Child Nation has been a hit, the students love it!​​
 

We have Child Nation timetabled once a fortnight. With such varied literacy and social capabilities amongst the group, we've trialled the students working in pairs, with the whole class undertaking the same adventure at the same time.
Within each student pair we've matched a more capable reader/writer with a student who requires extra support, in addition to having personalities that can work well together so that one student does not dominate all the decision
making.

 

There is myself and another staff member to support each session. We only tend to intervene when students require clarification, when students get stuck coming up with an idea and need scaffolding to progress or when students need help
with spelling a word.
 

So far we have completed the adventures The Darkness Game (involving spider creatures and lots of getting under tables), The Opposite Me (many students acting loud and mean) and That Tree Just Talked (with conversations between plants and insects).

 

There has been no clear favourite, as the group has enjoyed
each one and been completely immersed in the moment while participating (which is huge for our kids, as so many of them are usually running high on anxiety and remaining present can be a challenge).

The adventures have really captured the imagination of the students. While we have needed to scaffold the experiences more than would be required in a mainstream setting, the students have still been able to feel a sense of freedom
through making their own choices and wandering around the school environment. They are continually delighted with how interactive and playful the platform is when it responds to their input, especially when they are intentionally being silly.
 

Our post-adventure reflections have tended to be a little more rushed than I would like, as by the time the pairs all stumble back into the classroom and settle, we often don't have much time. Today however, we seemed to have enough time to compare the different ways we experienced the adventure, such as the places we chose to camouflage and the elements we chose to give a voice to.

Thanks so much again for letting us experience this wonderful program.

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Where would you put this in a school?:  Literacy thing (getting them writing). Giving them starters and then saying ‘here’s your story’. For some kids that’s the longest story they would have written.

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Engagement: Some kids were happy to do silly things and put in answers that wouldn’t be accepted by classroom teachers. There was one boy who is usually ‘too cool for school’ and he loved being able to make up crazy answers. was positive to see him uninhibited.

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Did you see any benefits?: A lot of engagement. Different and novel and being on the laptop and letting them take that outside. Was very engaging and they looked forward to it each week. Not a single child complained and refused to it.

Which adventures did you do: Did them all.

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The children enjoyed Child Nation and one child (who has actually left us this term) even mentioned coming to school on Wednesdays just to do child nation, as her mum had been trying to convince her to stay home and help with the baby.