THE KINDERGARTEN

We have early childhood qualified teachers responsible for the education of children in their year before school.  The year before school is called the Kindergarten year.

The Kindergarten Program aims to develop the whole child’s love of learning, and supports their transition to school in partnership with family.

The Kindergarten teachers’ are guided by the national curriculum “The Early Years Learning Framework” and by the Reggio Emilia philosophy, to plan and implement the program.

The program is based on the emerging interests of children and follows current research that tells us children learn best through play based engagement and by actively using their senses together with their peers.

THE ROLE OF THE TEACHER

We know that children already have an inherent desire to learn, therefore the teachers’ role is to intentionally provide support, guidance and inspiration to further develop children’s learning. The “project approach” is used by the Kindergarten teachers’ as a method to incorporate the children’s emerging interests and to provide opportunities to learn through play.  This approach encourages children to inquire, experiment and problem solve, in other words to be curious and active researchers about their world.

LEARNING

Some of the learning that may happen through short and long term projects are:

  • Creativity – art, drama, dance, music and movement.

  • Communication – STEM – science, technology, English and maths.

  • Health and Wellbeing – cooking, gardening, sustainability, nature and physical play.

  • Community and socialisation- excursions and incursions, links with the community (local playgrounds, library and local walks or special visitors) and opportunities to work collaboratively with their peer group.

UNIVERSAL ACCESS FUNDING

If families choose to do their child’s kindergarten year at our centre, we can receive funding through the government. The government funded four year-old program is called Universal Access and provides 15 hours of kindergarten each week. At our service parents will simply need to pay our normal centre fees. The government pays the funding directly to us to help with the higher wages of our qualified kindergarten teachers. It also assists with expenses related to the kindergarten programs as well as resources. Children in the funded program will be supported in their transition to school (e.g. school visits).