Our Program

Your child's curiosity, enthusiasm and love of learning will continually be encouraged by staff

MAKING LEARNING FUN & MEANINGFUL

Our approach to curriculum (educational program) is born out of a long held tradition of early childhood philosophy and practice, and is supported by contemporary international and national research and theoretical perspectives around children’s learning, health and wellbeing.

In our services children are valued and respected as competent and capable co-contributors in the learning process. Our teachers work alongside your child to actively encourage and support them in the learning process.

Staff regularly undertake professional development to ensure the most up-to-date research is used as a basis for shaping curriculum decisions.

The curriculum offered is a collaborative venture, negotiated with children and developed by fully qualified early childhood professionals. The physical environments and mood and feel of the centre are designed to support and enhance your child’s learning.

Your child’s curiosity, enthusiasm and love of learning will continually be encouraged by staff. As teachers and children engage in inquiry together, children are learning to observe, ask questions, reflect on their actions, and engage in meaningful and self-directed activity.

Our well respected tradition of encouraging family and community involvement ensures that our curriculum:

supports and affirms parents in their parenting role
acknowledges the individuality of family aspirations and traditions
optimises learning for children
engages parents in cooperative decision making
is relevant to the children, families and community
facilitates networking among families within the local community.

DOCUMENTING YOUR CHILD'S LEARNING

When we stop to ask children what they think, the possibilities abound.

Not only are they active seekers of knowledge but also ardent, and sometimes surprising, carriers of knowledge. At Goondiwindi Kindergarten Association Inc. our university qualified teacher/s strive to make this knowledge visible to you by capturing your child’s learning and thinking in portfolios. Portfolios are more than a memory or keepsake of your child’s time at Goondiwindi Kindergarten Association Inc. Not only do they provide an insight into your child’s learning, they also make the quality of our teaching practice visible to you. Portfolios provide children with an opportunity to revisit and reflect on past experiences; record their learning, including their emerging literacy and numeracy skills as it occurs in our rich, socially responsive and interactive learning spaces; and provide our teachers with the knowledge they need to ensure your child’s time with us is full of wonder and possibility.

Through careful observation and documentation, teachers gather information to determine the appropriate amount of challenge to offer your child in order to further enhance their skills, abilities and comprehension.

Observation and documentation forms the foundation for additional experiences to be planned, and provides crucial information for the environment to be arranged to extend learning. As an understanding of your child grows through observation, teachers are able to plan for interactions that best support your child’s interests, needs, ideas and questions.

The use of documentation methods, such as individual child portfolios and project books, allows teachers to gain an in-depth understanding of your child’s development in action. The use of concrete illustrations through the inclusion of photos and work samples provides a unique opportunity for focused discussion between you and the teachers. This allows for deeper partnerships to grow and for shared goal setting to occur.

"The essence of our role as educators is to add complexity to children’s thinking by posing a question: “What do you think?” In doing so adults provide the child with a possibility, acknowledge them as a thinker and constructor of knowledge and at the same time, indicate to the child that they are ready to listen."

Carla Rinaldi

Author

LEARNING THROUGH PLAY

Much of the debate in early year’s education focuses on how educators should be teaching our children.

Just as a baby has to crawl before they can walk, so too do children have to pay their dues in the “sandpit trenches”.

Children must be allowed to naturally progress through their own unique stages of learning. A curriculum that features child-initiated experiences ensures young minds continue to develop.

To make sure we nurture and develop our future generations of thinkers, play is an essential component of a quality early childhood educational experience. Research has shown play is the best exercise for the brain because it provides the perfect stimulus needed for brain development. The Canadian Government’s Early Years Study (McCain & Mustard 1999) concluded:

“Play based problem solving with other children and an adult is an early learning strategy that has a crucial effect on early brain development and should be the format for children entering the school system.”

Play that encourages problem solving offers children an array of opportunities to explore, discover and create. Play fosters qualities such as curiosity, perseverance and risk taking, to name a few. It is believed these qualities motivate lifelong learners but are difficult to invoke if not self-discovered when young.

THE ROLE OF ART

The visual arts are an essential part of children’s educational experiences and an integral component of the curriculum in Lady Gowrie kindergartens.

Offering a strong visual arts program for young children stems from our understanding that the child has an intense desire and will to make sense of their world. Drawing, painting, collage, clay work and construction are some of the most effective ways children have to construct and convey their understanding of the world in which they live.

We make use of a wide range of junk material for collage etc. e.g. small cardboard boxes, margarine & ice cream containers, material and wool scraps, all items are useful. No styrofoam or toilet rolls please.

BEHAVIOR GUIDANCE

Goondiwindi Kindergarten Association Inc. and Lady Gowrie have worked with qualified and experienced behaviour change experts to develop our Guiding Children’s Behaviour Policy and staff practices.

Our teaching staff analyse children’s behaviour to attempt to understand their needs. Our practice is guided by our philosophy which is based on the internal control psychology of Choice Theory by Dr William Glasser.

Staff use strategies such as directional language, guidance and behaviour teaching processes to encourage children to understand and choose appropriate behaviour.

The concept of guidance is an important one in the area of behaviour. A guidance approach to behaviour teaching and management requires the interactive participation of the child and adult. The goal of the guidance process is for the adult to interact with the child in a caring and understanding way, empowering and enabling the child to develop self-respect, self-responsibility and self-control.

When staff observe challenging behaviours, they make notes for the child’s records so that a clearer picture can be obtained. Staff try to establish reasons for a particular behaviour and plan experiences and activities which will assist the child to:

meet their needs in other ways
learn the appropriate behaviour.

Families are consulted about any issues or problems regarding their child’s behaviour. Family input is sought, where possible, for a solution in guiding the child.

If very challenging behaviours continue and staff members have demonstrated that all steps possible have been taken to assist this child with their behaviour, then the child’s placement at the centre may need to be reviewed by the director, committee and the Lady Gowrie early education consultant.

For further information, please refer to the Lady Gowrie Behaviour Policy located in the Lady Gowrie Policy Manual in the centre’s foyer.