Our Land Acknowledgement shows recognition of and respect for Indigenous peoples from the past and the present. We acknowledge that the property of Richland Academy is situated upon traditional territories of the Anishinabek, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, Mississaugas of the Credit, Mississauga and the Wendat peoples.
Recognizing this land is an expression of gratitude and appreciation to those whose territory you reside on, and a way of honouring the Indigenous people who have been living and working on the land from time immemorial.
Visitors to Richland Academy and our community will have already seen our beautiful space which we call the Piazza. Our Piazza is not a passive environment that is there just to look good or for our community to simply pass through. It has a very important purpose.
“The piazza does more than extend the classrooms for it encourages many different encounters and activities, and we assign still other purposes to it. For us it represents the main square of the Italian city, a space where people meet, speak to one another, discuss and engage in politics, conduct business, do street theater, and stage protests. The piazza is a place of continuous passage, where the quality of exchange becomes more intense, whether among children or adults. The more they meet, the more ideas circulate among adults and children. We might say that the piazza is a place where ideas arrive and depart.”
(Loris Malaguzzi, The Hundred Languages of Children)
Our Piazza is located centrally just like the main squares in Italian cities. Many of our classrooms have windows looking out to the Piazza so that our students can observe whatever activity may be going on. It provides a source of provocation, encouraging students to ask “What is going on there?” and because it is an open and welcoming space, our students are encouraged to go and inquire. In Reggio, this isn’t seen as a distraction but a source of inquiry where students can see its activities unfolding around them.
Below you can see just a few examples of those activities
