Overview

Centre Philosophy

North Maidstone Kindergarten acknowledges Traditional owners of the land on which the centre is located and pay tribute to Elders past and present and acknowledge the unique role they play in the life of the region.

We aim to provide your child with exciting and stimulating educational programs. We strongly believe that every child is unique in terms of each individual life experiences, developmental readiness, and historical cultural heritage; and that each child has a valuable contribution to make. We also value children’s creativity and expression of themselves.

At our kindergarten, the children are shown where and how things work at kindergarten. We respect the dignity of each child.

“PLAY IS LEARNING – Play is very important for children. Through play young children explore and learn to understand the world around them as they come to communicate, discover, imagine and create. When children play they are showing what they have learned and what they are trying to understand.”
Early Years Learning Framework for Australia, 2009

At North Maidstone Kindergarten, the learning program provided to children is play based – which involves open-ended activities that allow them to explore and learn from their own experiences at their own pace. Activities offered to the children are based on their interests, needs and stage of development. Through these activities, the children learn to play, to socialize, to interact with other peers and adults, to manipulate tools and equipment in an appropriate way. They learn to recognize their own achievement, to celebrate and to share theirs with others. They learn to respect and listen to the opinions of others, different ideas, thoughts and feelings.

We understand the equal value of outdoor and indoor play which allows the children to gain skills, knowledge and positive attitudes to themselves, others and to the environment. Children will develop physical skills and body control in fine motor skills through indoor experiences and in gross motor skills through outdoor experiences. By providing various learning context to the children, we promote communication skills, social skills, interdependence skills as well as responsibility and awareness of environmental and sustainable practices through their relationships with others and the environment.

We recognise that learning is an active process involves children’s engagement. As Early Childhood Professionals, we are intentionally apply integrated teaching and learning approaches: the integration of child-directed play and learning; guided play and learning; and adult-led learning to create a more focused experiential learning environment for the children.

We believe that learning in young children is promoted when families and staff work in a partnership. It is significant that families feel that their needs are met and values respected. We value families’ insight and background information on their children, and we provide families with resources, our supports, our knowledge and our experiences.