
At Marrickville Rd Preschool we believe that the
early years of a child's life are the most influential.
It is in the first years of life that young children
develop a sense of themselves and their place within the community of
learners. It is within these years that a child develops the foundation
skills and abilities that will carry them through life. Our role is crucial
in fostering and facilitating the child's development in these years.
To encourage each child's curiosity and interest in
the world around them and develop positive attitudes to learning:
- By promoting a thought provoking environment with powerful
provocations that allow children to be curious, active learners.
- By observing children carefully and using children's interests as
well as their emerging skills and strengths to influence programming
directions.
- By striking a balance between children's interests and an educator's
awareness of what knowledge, skills and dispositions a child is ready to
learn. As follows, investigations are mutually chosen by educators and
children.
For each child to develop respect for themselves,
others and the environment:
- By carefully and respectfully documenting children's work as a way
of valuing their ideas and learning, as well as showing children how
closely we have listened and observed them throughout their
investigation. Documenting a child's learning provides them with a
visible memory of what they said and did. Children recognise that their
learning is interesting and worthy of time and attention. They learn to
treat their own and other's ideas seriously.
- By presenting aesthetic environments to children, we raise their
awareness to order and care, therefore encouraging them to respect their
indoor and outdoor spaces.
To promote acceptance of cultural diversity and
appreciation of the many groups which make up the wider community:
- Providing a program and environment that reflects and embraces this.
- By recognising that early childhood settings provide an excellent
environment for children to experience and enjoy the diverse miracle of
Australian society and to respect and embrace difference.
To build and foster each child's developing
independence:
- By safely facilitating the natural drive in children to be
independent through consistent and reasonable limits
- By actively planning for the development of each child's emerging
independence through consistent and effective observation.
To cater for learning and exploration in the
following areas: science and discovery, literacy, numeracy, creative arts,
geography and our world, manipulation, physically active play and sensorial
exploration:
- By recognising that learning is an active process and children learn
most easily through repeated exposure, consistent role-modelling and
from repeated opportunities to apply and practice. Children learn by
doing, not seeing or listening.
- By allowing children opportunities to actively engage with materials
and resources in order for them to make their own meaning and become
active learners.
To provide a happy and secure environment where
children feel loved and respected and can develop to their fullest
potential:
- By focusing upon understanding individual children in a special way
with this focus being based upon carefully planned observation of,
interaction with and documentation of each child and their experiences
- Educators also value and recognise that each child possesses
feelings, experiences, attitudes and beliefs as valuable and complex as
their own
- By recognising the importance of building and nurturing secure
attachments with each individual child with the intention that they feel
accepted, secure and free to explore different aspects of their world
through their play and their relationships. When children feel safe,
secure and supported they grow in confidence to explore and learn.
- By effectively enforcing rules and limits through fairness and
consistency
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