Parents' Perspectives

Past or present parents - any comments you'd like to add to these?  Please feel free to email them to pcs@uq.net.au, and we'll add them to the website.


Barbara writes:

Our daughter started in the catholic system but after 3 terms we made a move to Pine. She was suffering anxiety at Prep and we were seeing a cycle of stress, reluctance to go to school and deteriorating self-confidence. We needed to do something different. When we thought about what she needs to be at ease we realised that she needed greater flexibility, more nurturing teachers, a setting that offered more connection to nature and a place where it was ok to be an individual. As parents we had requirements too. We needed to be able to be involved in her school community, know the teachers and families and have open information communication with all. We found what we needed at Pine.

After two terms at Pine she has blossomed into a Pine Kid - not afraid to get down and dirty in the pond or up a tree. She raises her concerns at meeting and debates her beliefs. She is inquisitive and keen to explore ideas. She is never in a hurry to leave. She loves her teacher. She feels respected and safe. Her love of literacy has been nurtured and the multi-age/small teacher child ratio settings means that she can learn at the pace she needs. She is happy and flourishing.

As parents I think we have become Pine Parents too - from involvement at fund raising, working bees and helping tidy up, as well as sharing with the kids something of our cultural diversity and life experiences. It's a school community where you get out of it as much as you put in.

I feel very fortunate that we found Pine when we did. Some friends and family think we were brave to have made the move. Maybe so, sometimes it takes courage to follow your instinct and take a road less travelled. All I know is that our involvement in the Pine Community has been a very positive experience for us as a family. Our daughter is happy and learning a diverse range of life skills as well as Qld Education core curriculum learnings. Come and have a look at Pine and see for yourself this truly special place.

Tina writes:

Pine has given our children an open space in their lives to explore, grow and learn in a community setting, unshackled by purposeful comparison and competitiveness. It is a place where their voice, their ideas and their choices are as valued as any other in our community and they learn to be heard and to listen and mature as a result.

Pine values and supports the diversity of individual approaches to life and learning, giving the children first hand experience of the richness and depth it brings to a community and the job of following their own learning journey. One size, system and approach does not fit all and serves very few.

Sue and Darren write:

Our son is turning 10 next month and our daughter is turning 12 next week. Here is our story about Pine ...

It was time for our son to go to pre-school; at the end of his second day he was so angry with me, he was hitting and kicking me, yelling at the top of his voice - pre-school was not the place for him, he never went back. So where was he to go ... I found Pine Community School via their website and started both kids there for their month's trial. This meant traveling from Southside to Northside three times a week, but it was more than worth it. At the end of the trial period we moved over to the Northside and the kids love of school and of learning began.

Our daughter had spent 18 months at a state primary school, we thought she was doing very well there, until she came to Pine and then we realised how mistaken we were. Sure, she could read as well as she "should", she could write as well as she "should", unfortunately her emotional and social development had been left behind in the effort to read and write as well as she "should".

It took her about 6 months to settle into the Life of Pine, now, she is a well-rounded and empowered young lady.

Our son, well, he took to the school like he was always meant to be there. The school suits him to a tee, he is happy and hates being sick or on holiday.

Other parents find it hard to believe that kids at Pine hate school holidays, they hate being sick and would rather go to school even while they are vomiting and they constantly ask why on earth weekends were ever invented.

As parents we love Pine, our kids love Pine, we wouldn't go anywhere else.