Overview

Centre Philosophy:

St Brendan’s Kindergarten is a child safe organisation that is committed to protecting children from abuse and neglect. Our commitment to child safety works in collaboration with this service philosophy to inform everything we do to support children’s learning and development.

Learning is important to us. We think learning is a lifelong adventure that is supported when we remain curious about ourselves, each other, our environment, and the world we inhabit. This is reflective of theorists such as Piaget and Vygotsky, and examples of how it is observable at our kindergarten include when:
• children are supported to hypothesise about the things that intrigue them;
• educators view themselves as co-learners and learn alongside children; and
• educators engage with professional development opportunities that support their ongoing learning.

We recognise that we live and learn on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri people. Developing a connection with the natural environment is important to us. This is reflective of the connection that Wurundjeri people have had with Country for tens of thousands of years and also of theorists such as Froebel. Examples of how this is observable at our kindergarten include when:
• children are offered an indoor/outdoor program;
• children are supported to engage in outdoor play in all kinds of weather; and
• educators honour historical and contemporary Aboriginal experiences and perspectives within their programs.

Family is important to us. Some of us have family that live close to us and that we get to see often; some of us have family that live far away or that we don’t get to see often; and some of us have created a network of chosen family who mean as much to us as the family we were born into. Whatever our families look like and however often we get to see them, they are part of us and we carry them with us in our thoughts and hearts. This is reflective of theorists such as Bronfenbrenner, and examples of how it is observable at our kindergarten include when:
• families feel welcome to spend time engaging with children and other adults;
• educators reflect the children’s families and heritage in their programs; and
• children are supported to share information about their lives outside of kindergarten with their peers and educators.

Listening to children and trusting children to know what they need is important to us, and the children have let us know that having happy teachers is important to them. Examples of how this is observable at our kindergarten include when:
• children seek out educators to engage in friendly and playful interactions with them;
• educators share enjoyment and humour with children; and
• educators are supported by service management to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

Being playful and having fun is important to us. This is reflective of theorists such as Gray, and examples of how it is observable at our kindergarten include when:
• children and educators use humour in their interactions;
• families and educators play alongside children; and
• children’s self-selected play is integral to our educational programs.

Communicating and sharing ideas in a multitude of ways is important to us. We value reading, storytelling, art, music, dance, and photography as methods of communicating ideas, though these are not the only forms of communication that have value to us. This is reflective of theorists such as Malaguzzi, and examples of how it is observable at our kindergarten include when:
• children are offered a wide variety of art and construction resources to make use of for communicating ideas;
• educators include multimodal experiences in our large group experiences; and
• educators document children’s learning and experiences in a range of different ways (including photographs, videos, audio recordings, and examples of artworks that the children have created).

Being our authentic selves and creating an affirming environment for other people to be their authentic selves is important to us. This is reflective of theorists such as Foucault, and examples of how it is observable at our kindergarten include when:
• children and adults feel safe to share their pronouns and experiences with others;
• families feel respected and welcomed throughout their time with us; and
• educators engage in planned and spontaneous anti-bias work with children.