Childrens Programs
Our Kindy Program
Our programs are developed in accordance with the Early Years Learning Framework, Developmental Milestones and the Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines – with play being the basis of how we believe young children learn. The children’s interests and developmental levels are always at the foundation of the program and embedded into our daily routines are a variety of learning strategies and resources.
Spontaneous Play
A variety of planned resources, materials and activities are set out in the room for children to freely explore and engage with. Allowing children to freely choose what they engage with promotes independence and a sense of agency. Educators engage with children as they play using different strategies to facilitate learning such as questioning, scaffolding, prompting, discussing and modelling.
Gross Motor Development
During each day there is time planned for physical activities, obstacle courses and games are used to engage children and facilitate the development of gross motor skills.
Intentional Teaching
Each morning we have ‘mat time’ with the kindy group where we intentionally teach various skills and develop concepts. This covers fine motor skill development, counting skills, measurement, shape recognition and number recognition. We also teach identifying body parts, name recognition, health and hygiene practices, fire safety, recognising emotions and many more topics that are of interest to the children.
Blocks
Blocks are always accessible in our Kindy room for children to use during play. Block play is important for all aspects of development including social, emotional physical, cognitive and language development. Through blocks children explore mathematical concepts such as length, number, sorting, classifying, ordering and shape. Language and social skills are developed as children work together to construct a variety of creations.
Puzzles
Puzzles are a learning resource that is used daily in our Kindy room. Completing puzzles allows children to develop many skills such as hand-eye-coordination, cognitive skills, fine motor skills, memory and problem-solving. Completing a puzzle provides children with a sense of mastery and fosters self-esteem and confidence.
Rest Time
The Kindy children are encouraged to have a rest/ quiet period. Quiet activities include puzzles, stories, drawing and felt boards allowing children to calm and relax before a busy afternoon.
These activities foster the development of literacy skills, cognitive skills, fine motor skills, imagination and creativity. After quiet time the children transition to other learning activities and areas in the room such as the home corner, art area and any interest centres we have set up.