At the heart of our Centre is the belief that ‘children need to be children’ and that we need to nurture and honour the early years of childhood.
We do this by ensuring children experience the joys, delights, wonders and challenges of the world via a play-based curriculum. We provide an environment that is safe yet allows children to take calculated risks, with guidance and support from caring and responsive educators.
We view all children as unique individuals who are competent, intelligent, capable and creative learners. Children thrive in an environment where they feel safe and secure and are able to build trusting, respectful and positive relationships with educators and peers.
We create a safe and inclusive space for children to express their views, opportunities to make choices, support them to recognise their rights and to influence decisions that affect them.
We appreciate that children need to have time. Time to play, time for rest and relaxation and time to just be themselves.
We strongly believe in the old adage “it takes a village to raise a child”, we want to ensure the Centre becomes an extension of your family home. Families are encouraged to share their ideas, questions, values, and culture in a welcoming environment, knowing they will be recognised and respected within our Centre. We acknowledge them as their child’s first and most influential teachers.
Families are actively consulted and informed about their child’s care, development, daily experiences and education. We believe that optimal care and educational outcomes are achieved when educators work in partnership with each child’s family and external community supports.
Working together helps to build strong foundations for children’s success for today and the future.
We recognise the importance of play in children’s learning and development, which allows children to engage with their world in meaningful and positive ways. We aim to create environments that are authentic and reflect the natural world.
We value opportunities for children to engage their senses, get messy, feel the earth beneath them and extend their interests through exploration, experimenting, adventure, problem solving and creativity.
Our aim is to guide and ignite children’s passion to become effective life-long learners through creating an environment that is stimulating, challenging and responsive to each individual child.
Our holistic play-based curriculum is informed by our collective knowledge and Early Childhood Theorists, whilst guided by the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF), The Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework and the National Quality Standards.
We provide the community with a quality educational curriculum which promotes inclusion, diversity, fairness and respect for all people, their cultures and heritage.
We are committed to providing an environment where our families feel welcome, safe and supported. We celebrate the diversity of people and encourage an acceptance and appreciation which includes the uniqueness of each individual.
We promote cultural safety, participation and empowerment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children (guided by our Reconciliation Action Plan), children from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds and children with additional rights.
We believe that all children and their families have the right to equal and equitable access to enable full participation in our Centre.
We take a holistic approach to teaching and learning by paying attention to children’s social, emotional, physical, cognitive, cultural and spiritual wellbeing. We are committed to supporting and fostering wellbeing across the whole learning community, and understand that positive mental health and wellbeing is most likely to occur in an inclusive environment where people feel supported.
We are committed to cultivating personal wellbeing and building resilience in our community by embedding positivity and gratitude in our daily practices.
We take seriously our ongoing journey towards promoting a sense of responsibility, respect and appreciation for the natural world.
Our educators and children work together to learn about and promote the sustainable use of resources and to ensure we continue to develop and implement sustainable initiatives.
We embrace creative strategies to build children’s awareness and knowledge of sustainability within our community and the environment.
Sustainable practices are promoted and embedded through everyday experiences, resources and interactions, assisting children, families and employees to become advocates for a sustainable future.
We believe it is important for our Centre to maintain and build strong working relationships and connections with our local community.
We engage and participate in both ongoing, meaningful relationships and events within our local community, ensuring children and families develop a sense of belonging and deeper community connections.
We strongly advocate for our profession by working in conjunction with other early childhood education and care services and agencies, offering training, mentoring and development opportunities.
Educators embed an understanding and awareness of Australia’s First Nations peoples, our direct communities’ cultures and those of the broader society both within Australia and globally to promote respectful connections with others.
Reconciliation for all is a life-long journey of un-learning and learning. It is an understanding and acknowledgement of the hard truths of Australia’s past, and a commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander self-determination.
To achieve this, our reconciliation journey ahead involves building a culturally safe Centre with strong connections with the Wurundjeri People on whose Land we teach, learn and play. It includes embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and ways of knowing into our curriculum, nurturing our children to be champions of reconciliation, and growing the cultural capability of our staff.
Current reconciliation in action:
Our educators and children work together to define our sustainability goals and promote the sustainable use of resources, ensuring we continue to develop and implement sustainable practices and behavioural change.
Fundamental values we aspire for our children include:
By supporting our children to explore and care for their environment we provide daily opportunities for them to experience awe and wonder in our outdoor environments embedding a deep love and respect for the natural world.
Thank you for the land, thank you for the sky,
here are my friends and here am I,
thank you to the Wurundjeri people,
for the land on which we learn and play,
hands up, hands down,
we’re on Kulin Nation ground.
We acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Custodians of the Land and River, on which we learn, work, play and live. We acknowledge Warrandyte and Birrarung (Yarra River), as a significant living and gathering place for the Wurundjeri people from time immemorial. We pay our respect to Elders past, present and emerging.
