Programs
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world". Nelson Mandela
Curriculum
Our high quality, early learning program is designed in line with The Early Years Learning Framework and Kindergarten Learning Guidelines. We place fostering relationships as the foundation of all that we do; a holistic approach to teaching the whole child and a commitment to developing children who can think for themselves, can create and imagine; children who are strong in their literacy and numeracy, and who can navigate the challenges of the world with intrinsic motivation and a strength of character made of a strong sense of self and resilience. We recognise the value of play in a natural environment and offer children many opportunities to explore, learn, set themselves challenges and take risks in our outdoor play spaces and on excursions in the college grounds and local community.
We recognise our educators' knowledge and expertise in child development and combine this with a clear knowledge of each child to provide an engaging environment for them to explore and investigate. Educators embrace children's enthusiasm and intrinsic motivation to learn. They interact skilfully with them, recognising and valuing their current interests, ideas, skills and abilities and supporting and extending their learning and development.
Families are invited to be involved in their children's learning at all stages of the year and are encouraged to become active participants in the centre's learning program. For information on our Early Learning Centre philosophy, click here.
Pre-Kindy (ages 3 - 4)
Our pre-kindy caters for children from 3 years to kindy age. We see our pre-kindy as an extension of home and recognise that for some children this may be the first time that they have attended child care. We work closely with families to ensure a smooth transition from home to our Centre. In order to learn, a young child needs to feel cared for and secure with a teacher or caregiver. Our key focus on getting to know each other and building strong relationships, enables each child to feel secure and valued. We nurture their personalities and delight in being a part of their lives as they are developing their identities. We know that at this age key areas for children’s development are their social and emotional skills and we take time to support them in developing friendships and a strong sense of belonging in our pre-kindy, centre, school and wider community. Our small number of qualified educators and low turnover of staff enables us to provide consistency to build warm and trusting relationships.
Interacting and ‘being present’ with children is a key priority for our educators. This ensures that we have an in-depth knowledge of children’s likes, interests, ideas, skills and abilities. We use the Early Years Learning Framework, our knowledge of our individual children and child development to create our enriching pre-kindy program and environment to ensure all children receive a high-quality education, feel engaged and motivated; fostering their love of learning and building the foundations for the Kindy year. We know that play is important for children to practise and develop their social, emotional, cognitive, literacy and numeracy skills. Educators observe, question and listen to children’s ideas through play and use this time to create teachable moments to build on children’s ideas, curiosity and learning.
Kindy (ages 4 - 5)
Our kindy program at Peregian Beach Early Learning Centre allows children to take part in play-based learning, expand their physical abilities, build their confidence and enhance their social skills; making valuable friendships, developing skills for life and developing a love of learning. We use the Kindergarten Learning Guidelines as a foundation for our program. These guidelines foster children's development across the domains of Identity, Connectedness, Wellbeing, Active Learning and Communicating. We maintain a strong focus on early literacy and numeracy within all our learning experiences, ensuring that each child's learning style is catered for and valued.
Early numeracy and literacy skills are embedded in our everyday practice in all age groups. Our educators do this in a variety of ways. We ensure that opportunities to encourage the use of mathematical language and an understanding of mathematical concepts are present in our children’s everyday play indoors and outdoors, using mediums such as construction toys, small world toys, loose parts, sand and water.
We expose children to print in their environment in various forms. Our educators understand that for children their name has special significance as they notice the starting letter of their own and their friends’ names. As our educators play with children they help them to write for various purposes including writing lists, invitations and thank you cards, composing messages and emails. Our educators also use books, singing, rhyming, puppetry, role play our smart board and dramatic play as vehicles to develop early literacy skills.
There are many aspects of creativity woven through our curriculum. Our educators promote this learning through supporting children to use their imagination by creating roles, scripts and ideas. Sharing stories and symbols of their culture they teach children to use creative arts such as drawing, painting, sculpture, drama, dance, movement, music and storytelling to express ideas and make meaning of their world. We do this by providing lots of open-ended, natural and ‘found’ materials. We understand the importance of making available a range of materials that encourage creative expression. We include beautiful objects such as stones, shells, flowers, art prints, fabric and baskets to spark children’s imaginations and cultivate a love for their natural environment. We integrate various types of music and dance into our curriculum through incursions to expose our children to a variety of performing arts professionals from different cultures, broadening their understanding of their world.
We understand that children learn best through investigation and discovery. It’s one of the ways in which they make sense of the world and their place in it. Our educators use questions as a powerful tool to promote children’s thinking and learning. We support investigation and discovery in children to exercise their sense of agency and develop valuable and complex problem-solving skills. We use an inquiry-based approach to learning, using children’s interests, ideas and questions as a starting point, thereby creating an engaging and meaningful curriculum that harnesses children's spirit of investigation.
We understand that effective environments are comfortable, interesting, attractive and appropriate for children, holding intrinsic interest and giving children a myriad of ways to practise and refine skills across all aspects of learning in a holistic way.