Our Programs
We are committed to providing a developmental and educational program which caters for each child’s individual needs, abilities and interests. Therefore, our program is different every year.
Goals for your child at our Centre
We will create a range of individual and group, short- and long-term learning objectives that we will program for and evaluate through observations. The objectives will be based on child development as well as the outcomes, practices and principles in the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and the Victorian Early Years and Development Framework (VEYLDF) including:
Emotional and Social development
Physical development
Cognitive Development
Mutual respect and empathy
Concern and responsibility for self and others
A sense of self worth
Social awareness
Importance of sustainability
Self-discipline
Habits of initiative and persistence
Creative intelligence and imagination
Self-confidence as an independent learner
A love of learning
Communication
Fostering Independence and Agency
Independence contributes to the development of self-esteem, identity and wellbeing. Doing something for yourself produces a powerful sense of achievement and success. When children have opportunities to make choices, to attempt tasks for themselves, and to take on increasing responsibilities, their sense of themselves as competent members of society grows.
We support children’s agency by encouraging children to be responsible for their own learning through choices in experiences, interests and routine. This involves the children and educators being co-learners, together seeking out ideas, opinions, thoughts, questions and answers. We encourage children in promoting their independence and self-help skills by assisting within the routine and involving the children in interest-based experiences to further enhance their learning and knowledge.
Learning Through Play
Studies throughout the world have shown that children learn and develop best while they are involved in purposeful play-based experiences.
What is play? Play comes naturally to children, it takes many forms and can occur in any setting.
“Play provides opportunities for children to learn as they discover, create, improvise and imagine. Play provides a supportive environment where children can ask questions, solve problems and engage in critical thinking. Play can expand children’s thinking and enhance their desire to know and to learn (EYLF, 2009 p. 15)”.
Play in Action
STEM
(Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)
By meaningfully embedding STEM into our program and environments, children think creatively , solve problems, wonder about the world and invent.
Children are given the opportunity to investigate, manipulate and experiment with a wide range of resources and materials that develop the concepts, skills and dispositions that are important for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives
We are committed to children learning about Australian history and our first people. We do this by embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives across all our programs and practices. These are some of the ways we do this:
Using natural resources throughout the centre.
Using Woi wurrung language in our routines.
Connecting Aboriginal perspectives with children’s every day learning
Exploring and caring for our indigenous garden.
Music and movement.
Creative Arts
Children use their creativity and imagination to turn their feelings and thoughts into something tangible and meaningful to each individual child. Here are some of the way’s children may explore creative arts:
create stories in their play
creating art work with both natural and man-made resources
mix colours for a painting
negotiate disagreements in their play
explain things to each other
creating music
dancing
Languages
Learning additional languages is a cognitive activity not just a linguistic one it involves memorising patterns and vocabulary and benefits children in a range of ways. It promotes children’s understanding that they are connected to a diverse and multicultural community.
Currently, as part of our program children are learning Mandarin, AUSLAN and Spanish.
Outdoor Classroom
We extend our programs by using our wonderful outdoor spaces including local ovals and parks. The benefits of our outdoor classrooms include:
enhancing gross motor skills, hand-eye coordination and overall health and wellbeing.
Supporting children to take risks and learn about their own abilities.
Encouraging creative thinking through imagination.
Immersing with nature.
Documenting children’s learning
We use Storypark, individual portfolios, photos and videos to document your child’s Individual learning and developmental progress. Please speak to us to see some samples and learn more about our documentation.