Our childcare philosophy
Overview
At Early Learning Child Care & Kindergarten our philosophy is to support children’s learning and development to their full potential. We firmly believe through offering children an environment of love, support, trust and respect, children can enjoy their stay and have the opportunity to strive. Our staff work together as a team to develop a philosophy that includes our values and beliefs of early childhood.
The philosophy of Early Learning Childcare & Kindergarten has been developed with the involvement of management, staff and families.
Our philosophy is guided by our interactions with children, families, our policies, procedures, children’s experiences and our centre environment. It includes our beliefs, values and attitudes and focuses on 7 areas that we feel are important factors within early childhood and the care we provide to children and their families.
We believe each child is a unique person with an individual pattern and timing of growth, they develop individual personalities and learning styles (Fleer, M.). We understand individual learning styles and are aware of children’s interests, likes and dislikes and provide materials and experiences that not only developmentally appropriate but also challenging for the individual.
Play
We consider play to be an important factor with the overall development of a child and strongly encourage this within the centre values. Through play, each child is learning about the world around them, as they discover, question, imagine and create. The value of play contributes to children’s emotional development, the ability to solve problems, be creative and communicate using different forms of language development (Dau, E).
The environment
We feel our centre is unique in offering children that close environment they need during the early childhood years. We allow children to feel safe and secure in their environment through providing an atmosphere that reflects children’s interests, their culture, the community, work projects and their contributions.
Displaying children’s work signifies and recognises the value of children’s expression of their thoughts, ideas and imagination. Children are encouraged to interact with siblings and other children of different ages throughout the day, to create a close community amongst the whole centre. (Seefeldt. C)
Programming
Early Learning Child Care & Kindergarten caters for the physical, social-emotional, cognitive and language needs of young children, whilst also focussing on sensory development, creative expression and music and movement. We feel it is important to focus and extend on all areas of development to ensure children are enriched with a variety of learning opportunities for future life.
Challenging Learning & Development
We believe early childhood is an important stage of life, as it is where foundations are laid for future growth and intellectual development. We consider each child as a unique person with an individual pattern and timing of growth. Our staff foster children’s individual learning styles, through being aware of individual interests and providing materials and experiences that are not only age appropriate, but also challenging for the individual.
Through providing a creative and challenging learning environment, each child is offered the opportunity and the time to play and develop individually. We feel it is important to extend from children’s curiosity. Curiosity should be nurtured; it is an important component in the development of aesthetic awareness (Beckett, C). We feel learning is challenging for young children, our staff provide support and encouragement, aiming to develop close relationships with all children.
Partnerships with families
We believe it is important to have good partnerships with all our families. The focus on our partnerships is the child’s wellbeing, we believe a partnership includes these characteristics:
- Mutual respect
- Trust
- Sensitivity to the perspective of others, or empathy
- Ongoing, open “both ways” communication
- Teamwork, the absence of rivalry or competition
- Recognition and valuing of the unique contribution and strengths of the partner
- Shared decision making
(Partnerships for children – parents and community together).
Culture & Diversity
We believe through exposing children to different cultures they can learn to respect, understand and become aware about the wider world. We feel it is important to create an environment that is rich in possibilities for exploring gender, race/ethnicity and different cultures. All children are treated equal and are valued for their individuality. We share and include not only the cultures of families at the centre but explore and learn about the cultures of the world.
Service Policies and Procedures
You will find a copy of our service policies and procedures in each room and office. We expect our staff and families to adhere to our policies and procedures at all times to ensure we maintain compliance and abiding by the National Law and Regulations.
Educators cannot make exceptions for individuals unless the Nominated Supervisor or Management do so on account of serious and/or unusual circumstances.
We are constantly reviewing our policies and procedures and ask for staff and family participation to ensure our policies and procedures adhere to family’s needs and meet required regulations. Your involvement helps us to improve our service and may lead us to change our policies and procedures.
