Welcome to the Energetic Radio podcast. This episode is brought to you

by the school of play dot co, hosted by Dale Sibonham and

Paul Campbell. Each week, we'll bring to you tips, strategies, and ideas

on how you can bring more joy and happiness into your life and those you

share with. Welcome back to the podcast, everybody. This

is episode number 355 of the Energetic Radio podcast.

My name is Dale Silber. I'm joined by the one and only Paul Campbell. Hello,

everyone. Now this is a little bit different podcast.

We obviously were away this week working, and we didn't

plan on having a podcast. But it's funny when you're you're in a

situation and things just occur. Obviously, we've been

running a lot of student agency leadership and well-being sessions where we go

into a primary school and we upskill the student

leaders. So normally, the grade six or the grade five students, on

ways that they can champion our play based well-being program across the school.

And Eddie's such a rewarding thing to see because then when we

leave, they've got a back end program that they can then take and

champion for the rest of the year across the school. And it's so powerful.

That's it. It kinda makes our fun shop sustainable, doesn't it? Yep. We come in,

we inspire them, we teach them how to lead our fun shops, and then they

pick that up and they continue to deliver our fun shops and our well-being

play based activities throughout the whole school. They get to

develop their leadership skills. They have multiple exposures developing their leadership

skills. And we love to watch the growth of these young emerging

leaders throughout the year. It's incredibly powerful, the society said. And this

week we're at the Keylor Views Primary School, running a running a session

out there. Shout out to Matt Borg who is an incredible print doing absolutely

incredible things. An amazing culture. Yes. It's it's funny. We go to a lot of

places and, just felt welcome from the moment we got

out of the car. Everyone was happy. Staff, students, all saying hello.

It was very refreshing. Not saying all schools aren't like that, but I feel it

it has a lot to do with, obviously, what Matt has created. Yep. And

and from the get go, and we noticed this when we sat in the car,

Matt, who's the principal, from the moment we drove in the gate, he came and

met us and greeted us at our car. He offered to help us carry our

things, and then Matt did not leave outside for the

entire day. Yeah. Didn't have his phone. Didn't have his phone. He sat in the

workshop. He contributed to the workshop. He had lunch with us. He had lunch

with the students. And from literally 8AM until about

02:00 in the afternoon, that was his

purpose. That was his main thing. He was present. Yes. He didn't get distracted with

anything else. And I know people are busy and I get that all the time.

I get it. But he he was intentional about it. Yes. And what it led

to was, during the last part of the the session, he goes, would

you two like to come and be on our podcast? We're the student leaders. And

we've done a few of these now. And we're like, we would love to. Like,

we always love the opportunity to you know, we had the opportunity to work with

Lily and James who did the podcast to all the student leaders.

And it was in I I always get blown away by a grade

six student how confident they are to run a podcast. So I go to

I know how long it took me and how remember how nervous you were when

you first started? Like, and these Sure. They're in grade six. Yep. Incredible. And this

one this one wasn't a planned podcast. So Lily and James had no

idea this was gonna take place. Matt Duprin, you know, on the whim was like,

hey, why don't we jump in the podcast studio and and we do a potty?

And we're like, yeah, let's do it. So Lily and James, who are two of

the young student leaders there, they didn't plan for this. There was no agenda

set, nothing written down. And for them just to be able to jump behind the

mic and, you know, run a podcast, which is brilliant. And you'll notice

when you listen to our listeners that Lily especially was a little bit nervous early

on because there wasn't a script and it wasn't planned and that's completely fine. But

what we love seeing was as she calmed and as she settled and she felt

more comfortable, she became herself and and they they spoke really

well. And what they said about Matt and the school and the

culture is is something that we wanna share because

it's beautiful. And we we love it when people feel

valued and they love their place or their people or their

community. Yeah. And that's what we felt, Akila Views. So we wanna share that with

you. More importantly, we're we just wanna share how awesome

kids are and how awesome young leaders are. They're incredible.

Yeah. And the opportunities they're getting now compared to and this was

nothing to do with the schools we went to back in time, but I think

it's evolved so much around leadership and empowering our kids and,

these were two exceptional ones that we wanted to hear. All the time, right? You

hear all the time, oh, the youth of today, oh, they're going backwards, oh, they're

not you know, they've changed. But trust us, there are some absolute

gems out there, and our future is bright, and there's some incredible

kindness, some incredible leadership, and and yeah. You know, little Jimmy,

who you'll meet in the podcast today, just the words you His name is James,

but you called him Jimmy. Yeah. James Jimmy. He roll with it. He roll with

it. I love it. But this school, we're obviously we've got a business

called The School Play. This school, well before we got here, they've been doing it

for twenty years. Yeah. Crazy. Every single morning for the first

twenty minutes, every single student and teacher gets out of the classroom,

they go outside, and they have twenty minutes of intentional play.

Movement, play, connection. They've been doing that for

twenty years. That is pioneering. Oh, it's our first time walking into this school, and

as Saidi said at the start, you could feel it. It was

such a happy place to be around. I thought I was a pioneer with play.

Like doing I believe it yeah. Not well, I was like, wow. No way.

No. It is. Way ahead. Way ahead. We love it. So what you're about to

hear, ladies and gentlemen, is the podcast from Key Law of Views Primary School with

a couple of student leaders there and Matt Borg, their principal. We couldn't pass

up the opportunity and we really wanna share this all with you. Hey, Joy.

Today, we are joined by Paul and Dale from the School of Play.

Hello, guys. Hello. Really? How are you? James, how are we both? Good.

Thanks for having us. This is a, very impressive little podcast studio you've

got here at the school. We love it. Flash, isn't it? Yeah. We, obviously do

our own podcast, and it's definitely not this flash. So we are excited to be

here a little bit nervous because we're out of our depth with how amazing these

facilities are. So today,

Paul and Dale joined us as school

leaders and gave us a little lesson

about how us leaders can improve and

some ideas for us leaders this year.

Hi. Paul and Dale, can you just tell us, what you do and what

what's all about? Of course, again. Thanks for the question.

First and foremost, we had to come and have a heap of fun. Yeah. We

are Everything. We are two human beings that, rock into places with a t

shirt that says play on the front of it, and that sets a tone for

us to just, I don't know, have a bit of fun with students and staff.

But today's game plan was obviously all around student leadership. So we want to develop

you as young leaders, and we wanted to give you access to a

program that you can then roll out our activities and our play

programs to the wider school and give you the opportunity to have an

amazing impact on the students here at Killua Views. So

now the ball's over to your over to you guys, the ball's in your court.

We've sort of taught you our ways. We we we get to, we've obviously figured

out a number of ways that we use specially designed play based programs and

research and ideas to help people of all ages be engaged, be

motivated, and improve their mental health and well-being. And, obviously, you got a snapshot of

it today. But more importantly, the whole point of today was we've given you our

program now. And not that we want you to be little Pauls and Dales, but

we want you to use your own skill set as leaders, take away things you

learned from us today, and now champion those programs across your school and

community where you work with all your students, where you work with your families

outside with the community connectors, and also, you educate the

staff. Obviously, empowering the whole school and community as

leaders, what a better way to leave a legacy. Yep. And that's what I love

about the school. Obviously, this is our first time visiting the school, and what we've

felt today is an amazing sense of community. It's actually

been insane. We we come to a lot of schools, and to feel the

sense of connectedness and to feel how much you all love coming to school,

to see how beautiful the grounds are. So you've obviously got a lot of pride

in your school, and I think that's brilliant. From the moment we walked in,

students, teachers, well, but students greeted us, and that's the sign

of an amazing school with a great culture. My question over to you

guys is, what do you love about being a student here at this

school? Well, I've been a student here for the whole seven

years of, being here. And,

I just love, like, how this school isn't like a school where

you're like, oh, the principal's coming. Uh-oh.

Perfect. Be perfect. Be straight. Like, oh, they've got strict rules.

Like, yes, we have rules, and, yes, we follow the rules, but we're

in such a good community that we really don't, like we're

all, like, relaxed together. And, like, even, like, the new

preps just come in, and they're, like, already, like, just

fit in so well to our school. And they don't seem, like, nervous or

anything at all. Obviously, they're gonna be nervous at the start, but they don't seem

nervous or anything. And I just think it's, like, such a good area to be

in. Like, I love school. And, Lil, I think that's incredibly powerful what you

just said. Right? %. You just said that you feel comfortable. A community.

Basically, you've you've basically said you feel comfortable to be yourself. Yeah. You

don't pack your ducks and the principal's walking up, which happens in lots of schools.

Right? Because you're at a school community that they they encourage you, and they

they want you to be yourself. And we said this earlier

today. You it is we said it's our school. Right?

It's not their school, and you're following the rules. It is our school, and

that's a sensible what we felt here today. And that's a testament

to the, obviously, leadership team, but it's also a testament to every single teacher that

that brings that sense of community as well. James, what about yourself? What do you

what do you love about being here? Yeah. As you said, the

encouragement and I think just the freedom of

being able to do things where it's not as so strict, where we

have to worry about too many things.

There's really good staff here. All the teachers bring their own

unique, like, form of teaching.

Mhmm. And it's really great to enjoy that for the past seven

years. Love that, James. Now, us also, we got here quite early this morning

because we like to do that. We like to get a feel for the schools,

and we walked around, and saw twenty minutes of

just play and fitness this morning from prep to grade six, and a lot of

it was student led. Lulu, James, do you wanna explain what that is

and why the concept of that exercise movement and play in the

morning is something that you do every day? Well,

sorry. The first thing we obviously do when we get to school

is we mark the role, but then as soon as that happens, we go straight

out just for, like it's always, like, outside. It's never gonna

be something inside, besides our assembly

that's every Monday. But that is kind of when we

connect as a group for the, like, the only time the whole week

that the whole school will connect as a group. But the rest of the fitness

and play and stuff is just to get us ready for the day and,

like, to, like, wake us up and, like,

give us some fresh air after, like, stressing out and

getting ready really quickly in the morning with probably your mom, like, hurry up.

Trust me. That's exactly what I was gonna say. Sleeping, Lily? Are you asleep, Luna?

Yep. Or my brother. Yeah. I love it. And I love that too. And

we obviously got to walk around as Sarah. And then, James, I didn't even know

you were gonna be one of the leaders, but we ended up kicking the footy

together. I played some games of some preps. It was incredible. Is

that what was your role this morning, James? You just had a footy and I

just kicked it with you. Was that part of the plan? Yeah. I'm just always

ready to include anyone. I was just there. I was just

taking shots. I love that. And are you encouraged in that morning

session? Are you encouraged to have a bit of freedom? So,

obviously, you were snapping you were snapping goals and snapped a great snap sausage roll

from the boundary, by the way. Are you encouraged to do your own

thing in that time if you want to, or do you have to follow a

set routine and plan? Well, there's certain things we

can do, like we have basketball, relays.

But other than that, it's our we're free to do whatever

we want. Still with rules, but,

yeah, we still have that bit of freedom where we get to choose

what type of thing we wanna do. Lovely. Lil? Well, yeah.

Our every year level is assigned to do something each week.

Every week, it'll be new. A group of

girls that I am with, we have worked in aerobics

for three years now, I reckon.

Since grade four, we've been, like, doing the aerobics and the dances

and learning all the dances and teaching it to every like, a new year level

every week. And it's really good, like, to be in

that sort of group of people and have that group of people that you've, like,

always been with Yeah. And do those things with. But then there's also kilometer

club, there's ball handling, there's

relay, basketball, skipping,

and, like, so many other things. That's amazing. So you've been doing the aerobics

part of it for some time now, for a couple of years. How what what

have you gained from that? So, obviously, you've been taking a leadership role in the

school from a few years ago. So I'm I'm assuming grade three or grade four

through to grade six. And that's incredible. Right? How do you feel as though

your personal development has taken shape from being able to do

that? Well, there's been, like, a lot of kids that have

been running up to the front pretending to be us, like, coming next to us,

not obeying the rules. But we kind of just, like

we use a nice tone and have to just tell them, stay in your

line. You have to do this. And if it gets like that, they keep doing

it. The teacher the teachers are always there. Like, they're always like, there's, like,

probably three teachers at the most, and,

they're always there just watching over. This is also in the gym, so

sometimes, our PE teacher's there too. Yep. And he'll see some

behavior or the teachers will just walk around and see behavior, and then they'll tell

them, like Yep. Stop. Obey them. I love it. Do you find

though from running those sessions that the the junior students in the

school, they know who you are, they look up to you, they say hello in

the school yard. Do you feel that? Yes. Well, I actually formed a bond

with a little prep kid. I'm not sure what her name is,

but we were doing by aerobics, we were doing her we

were doing, like, her her grade. And,

we saw her and she was smiling at us, and then we saw her at

the canteen and she was like, hi. So every day when she walks out, we

see her and we give her a hug and, like, it's, like, really cute. It's

like her favorite part of the day to see us. 100%. Amazing. And you know

that you're contributing to that young person wanting to come to school.

Right? Aussie role model in that And that should feel so

incredibly powerful and so good that you're having that impact on another human being, and

that's leadership one on one. But that's just being a good human. Oh. Alright? That

is insane. It is. I'm not Now I must admit, we have done a lot

of these as you said before. To be able to come in here and be

in grade six, to be able to do a podcast, Lily and James, like you

both have now, have you always just had this confidence? Because,

obviously, you're leaders this year. Have you always been leaders, or is this just something

that's come naturally? Because I'll be honest, that what you are both able to do

and we've seen today is very, very exceptional. Is it always been something

or you've just picked it up this year in eight weeks? I'm not sure about

Lily, but it's always just, every year, it's just kept growing,

kept building on me, my confidence. And I've been able

to spread out and do new things. And

last year, I made the decision with that confidence that I

built to write that letter and

put my hand up for a school letter. Well done. So fill this in, do

you have to write a letter to apply for for a student leadership? Yeah.

So in grade five, at the end of the year, they will get you to

write a letter to mister Borg and mister Macoker, our principals, and,

they will choose from those letters. And also from,

like, seeing the person in the yard, how many times that person will

just, like, walk past and say hi or, like, just every time,

like, they see that person doing, like, a good thing. That's how they will

select them. I love it. Well done. Well, amazing. I must admit it's been,

not only a pleasure to come and run the session today, but you've been doing

this only eight weeks. Imagine if you keep building like this. And I

know leadership isn't just in grade six. You've both built that

capacity as you've gone on. But do you get excited by what's possible

and the opportunities you're already getting? You know, your school's investing. Is

that I would be so excited. And be particularly with the the base level of

where you both are, so impressive. Yeah. I get

really pumped when there's things to do because I'm always ready to help

out the school. And, I'm always

there to try something new to try something new. Mate, I love it. How's it?

I'm pumped to do it. I love that. That is that is awesome. There's no

better thing than that. Awesome, mate. That is awesome. From today. Alright? So,

obviously, we ran a a leadership workshop with you today, and we've we've thrown the

keys in. Instead of right, go on now, you know, put our program into

practice into school. What was the best thing about today? Tell give us some feedback.

Your highlight. What was your highlight? Probably all the activities that we did

in session three and four, they were really fun. And getting

our little journals and being able to write down, like,

our taking notes, having something to take notes in and just

like, the food, because I'm obsessed with food. And the food is good spread. Very

good. That's a good spread. And, like, just being able to, like,

spend time with the leadership team,

and being able to, like, get away from your classroom, which I love

my class and everything, but, like, being able to, like, hang out with

this group of people that, like, I love and I've spent, like, half

my life with. It's like it's really nice to, like, be able to do

all that stuff with them. That's awesome. And that's that's one of the outcomes we

want. Right? We want you guys to be bonded as a as a student leadership

team. That was a beautiful answer. James? About you, James? Yeah.

Like, just hanging out with the group. Like Lily said, they're a good group of

school leaders and they're people you wanna be around at this

time. There was humor. There was

fun. It was all there, packed up. And,

thank you for the brightness you brought to our school. Oh,

mate. Can I call you Jimmy? Do you get Jimmy very often, James? Lil and

Jim. Yeah. Lil and Jim. Yeah. Lil and Jim. The Lil and Jim Show. There

you go. You got a podcast when you leave here. The Lil and Jim Show.

Yeah. Mister Ball, can we throw the mic over to you for a second?

What are you when you when you hear this and

you've watched what you've seen today, what are you most proud of?

I'm I'm most proud of our kids. Every time I walk out into the

yard, not just these kids, but every single child from the prep that's been here

for eight weeks all the way through to, you know, grade sixes who have

we've had the pleasure to be able to serve as a school for

them for, you know, all all their school life. So

it's exceptional. It's an exceptional place. The

positivity that I feel when I walk into the place is

infectious. You felt it today, first time here, guys. %. And why I think that

we've got something really special, and we've built that

together. It's not my school. It's not the parents school. It's not the kids

school. It's all our school. And we've got real

legacy here where parents now, who used to be

students, have started to bring their kids into the school environment as

well. So we've got, like, just absolute generations

of kids who have been brought up the KVPS way. And that's changed with our

people, which is most important. But, you know, I know when I

walk down the street here at Kealoha Downs Plaza,

and I'm doing my local grocery shop shopping or something like that. And

I'll see one of these kids, and all I get is positivity and

happiness. Not like, there's mister Borg Dodge runaway. Well, there he

is. It's more like, hey. What are you doing? And I'm like, I'm

doing my shopping just like you. I'm a normal human being. And then we have

this great conversation. And I especially love the real

the real data that I take from the place is when I see adults that

we've impacted and we've empowered here at KVPS.

Being good humans themselves in their own lives and creating that,

vibe around the environment and around our community, that's really what it's

about. The connection that play brings is something that I

really wanted to highlight today. And us being connected, I

think there is a real con I know I know there's every crisis known to

the human gen you know, population at the moment, but there definitely is a

connection crisis. Mhmm. And I think it's really hard to

be unkind to people that you have a connection with. So

we think that building those connections together as a community, no matter,

where you where you've come from in our community, is only gonna be a

benefit for for everyone involved. And, you know, play is

a great vehicle to be able to ignite that,

connection in those experiences that you just don't get with

doing lots of other different activities around the place. So No. You don't.

And and honestly, I take my hat off to you and so does Dale. Yeah.

We were pumped about today because we through our knowledge, you

you're the only school that we know of that is allocating twenty minutes of

time every single day to get out of the classroom and connect with

each other through playing physical activity. And we've been doing it for twenty years. Yeah.

Twenty plus years. It is. It is. It is amazing. It is

amazing. But we've now felt what it's done. And we've seen what it's done. And

we're really looking forward to that and it hasn't let us down. And and we're

really looking forward to with the kids here to reinvent

that time to ensure that we're we're we're touching not just the

physical fitness side of things, but the play based side of things. And

with real specific intended strategic connection

activities that our kids can run. And then teach our

adults, other adults across the school, parents and teachers, to be able

to run them in their own homes, in their own lives. And that connection, hopefully,

goes viral. And that that's really what we want is that positivity and connection,

kindness to be a viral thing, for positivity, not just

some silly video of a cat on on mine. Yeah. I love that. I love

that. How does it so Lil Lil and Jimmy, back to you guys. How

does it feel to be trusted like that?

Yeah. It's the responsibility. Mhmm. Being trusted by your

principal is, like, what most people would be like, oh my gosh. That's stressful. What

do I do? He's trusting me. What if I mess up? What if I'm going

to but I know mister Borg is someone that will be

like, okay. You messed up. Do it again. Try again.

And, like, being trusted by mister Borg is it's

pretty big. Like, it's it's a big thing, and it makes you me

feel, like, really good about myself that I'm trusted by

the the leader of this school. Yeah.

And I love I love being a leader. Like,

it's it's fun. Yeah. And,

yeah, it's a lot on your shoulders. Yeah. But

it's, like, so much fun once you get it done. And for

our last year of primary school, like, this is just something that I don't think

I like, I'll I don't think I'll ever forget. Yeah. And I give so many

I love that. You'll definitely take the lessons and the growth along with you for

the rest of your life. No ifs and buts about it. You've both been incredibly

impressive today and even the way you're responding to these questions, but during our workshop

as well. And we've got no doubt that you're you're you've set

yourselves up for a really successful time ahead of this. Jimmy, how do you feel?

Yeah. I feel really good. Look, I think, mister Borg

setting all these things up for us is, a privilege,

and I'm really thankful for that. So, thank you, mister Borg. Yeah. First

off. But also, I think, I mean, he

trusts everyone, especially to do the right

thing. Mhmm. And to be a leader, it

is challenging, but we pull through

together. Yeah. I love it. I wanna ask you a question without notice. It's gonna

go either one or two ways. As students here, do

you see or feel many discipline issues? So there are there many

issues in the yard, or does any everyone generally get along pretty well? Everyone really

gets along well. Like, I am as a girl, I am friends with so

many boys, like like, people from opposite genders. Like, I am friends with so

many different people. And you realize in the

end that you don't, like, really care anymore. Like, you were just like, okay.

Cooties, boys, what? Haven't

heard the term cooties wrong. I love it. Exactly.

Like, it's not it's not that deep. Like, you just

Everyone gets along. Right? Everyone's harmonious? Along. It's so good here. And,

like, lunch and snack, me and my friends, we play soccer,

and we don't get, like, called any names.

Yeah. Not fights don't happen. Nothing happens. Not

there's not really that many disagreements in the yard. Yeah. So it's pretty good,

but we always have the teachers that are out on yard duty during these times

as well. And you and, honestly, be incredibly grateful because so many

schools are different. And I think the fact that your school is investing in that

twenty minutes of connection time at the start leads to Yeah.

The harmonious school yard. Doesn't it? The way we start, those

book like the pillars of the day. Yeah. So important. Jimmy, how do you feel?

Finish it off, big man. Let's go. I think everyone

knows this, or everyone should keep this in their head

that in the at the end of the day, we're all KVPS and we're all

the same team, and we just have to stay like that Oh, fuck.

And keep it up. Brilliant. Mate, he's gonna get a sports coach at some stage

there, Jack and himself. That. Hopefully, he's a

Hawthorne coach. Olivia, that's correct.

Whatever. Hey, Jimmy. That's a pretty good endorsement. Lily wants you to be the Hawthorne

coach one day. That's fantastic. I love it. I love it.

Thank you for having us. Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you for inviting us

into your school and allowing us to have the have the half day workshop with

you. You were phenomenal. Be brave. Okay? Put some

things in action as we spoke about today, and we can't wait to watch your

growth. And, thank you for having on as a guest in your podcast. Thank you.

Awesome.