Our Mission
The Shed is a space for young people where opportunities for conversations and meaningful encounters can exist.
Our mission is to empower individuals to navigate their own identities (Me), foster meaningful connections with others (We), and nurture a strong sense of environmental and global responsibility (Us).
Our Core Values
Participating at The Shed means we strive to reflect these values:
Caring and Compassionate - Foster a culture that celebrates self-responsibility together with empathy and preparedness to act.
Connected - Instill a love for life and all things living whilst appreciating the impact we have in its existence.
Courageous - Embrace diversity in all its forms, by mindfully stepping forward, conscious of challenge and consequence.
Sustainable - Commit to choices that provide long-term benefit to self, others, and the planet.
Community Orientated - Cultivate an environment that encourages thoughtful and meaningful contribution to family, friends and the wider society.
The Benefit Mindset
To help us face life's complexities, we need tools. Ones that can help us look after ourselves, others and the planet we live on. One of the most powerful tools we all have is our mindset, and by taking time to appreciate how it affects our world, we can learn how to utilize it to shape the best possible version of it. At The Shed, we refer to this mindset as the Benefit Mindset which is based on the work by Ash Buchannan. At The Shed, we often refer to our mindset as "The Filter”. We build, shape, mould, and evolve this filter from birth, and it plays an integral role in the way we perceive the world, and the sooner we become aware of this powerful tool, the earlier we can use it to create the best version of it. At The Shed, we want to introduce the concept of mindset, our 'filter', at a young age with a hope to create a powerful and organic shift that carried with them through their entire life.
Our Philosophy
At The Shed, we believe that children learn best by doing. We use hands-on learning experiences and inquiry-based learning to teach empathy, confidence, creativity, curiosity, problem-solving, and resiliency. Our programs offer a small, supportive and engaging environment for children to get outside while deepening their connection to themselves (ME), the community (WE), and to our planet (US).
Our sessions include both indoor and outdoor environments at various locations on Hong Kong Island. Each session starts and ends with a Community Circle. This is a critical part of our routine that helps to build our Shed Community. Community Circle is the time and space where Shedders are invited to share thoughts and reflections with each other. At this time, Shedders are posed a question to ponder on whilst they go through their activities. At the end of our time together, Shedders are invited to share their final thoughts and comments, thank those in their community, and say farewell until next time.
We participate in 5 different categories of activities during our sessions: Outdoor Health, Cooking/Farming & Growing, Community & Social Action, Building/Crafting & Creating, and Creative Movement. Conversations will provide children opportunities to question, reflect, and evaluate the experiences that they just had during that session. To help build, mould, and shape the ‘Filter’ or mindset and to empower your Shedder, purposeful activities are curated with the intention that these hands on experiences will nurture your child’s natural curiosity and add to your child’s life problem solving tool kits.
The Shed Agreements
We show ATTENTIVE LISTENING.
We show MUTUAL RESPECT.
We give APPRECIATIONS, NOT PUT DOWNS.
We are AWARE, ATTENTIVE, and SAFE.
We have the RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE/PASS.
Our 5 Shed Agreements are expectations that guide your Shedder’s interactions with each other and their environment. These Agreements are an important part of the language that we use to communicate with one another and helps Mentors to foster empathy, confidence and a sense of belonging.