Curriculum
At Lobethal Community Kindergarten we offer a high quality learning program. Using the Early Years Learning Framework, Being, Belonging and Becoming as a guide, we program using the framework’s stated principles and practices.
Staff reflect and discuss every child every day and program fortnightly, ensuring that all activities are child centred, focussed on individual children’s needs and provide challenges and stimulation for children of all skill levels. We strongly value the voice of our children within our program and therefore run an emergent curriculum which follows children’s ideas and interests. This ensures that children have a strong voice in the running of our learning program.
Nature Play
We are strong advocates for the importance of nature as a place of learning and discovery for children. We aim to build children’s independence and self-esteem through meaningful and authentic experiences in nature. We recognise this can only be achieved by providing the opportunity to revisit these experiences on an ongoing basis. We embrace the seasons, and all they have to offer, and run an all weather program both at our Kindy, and whilst off site at our Bush Kindy sessions. We promote and encourage the use of our outdoor learning environment when ever possible at kindy. Our off site Nature Connect program aims to develop children’s skills to take and manage risk, build resilience, and promote and encourage skills to question, explore and become succesful lifelong learners.
Play Based Curriculum
At Lobethal Kindergarten, we know that children learn best when they play in a happy, stimulating, challenging, loving and safe environment, We also know that children blossom in an environment where they have a sense of belonging and connectedness to their learning environment.
We therefore strive to ensure that we provide the best possible learning environment based on current research, self and environmental analysis as well as responding to feedback from our stakeholders…our children and families.
As we provide a play based curriculum, we ensure that children have the opportunity to play and engage in activities that are age and developmentally appropriate. We also incorporate the different styles of play into our programming process, highlighting the importance of engaging children in a wide range of play experiences at kindy, these are as follows:
• SENSORY PLAY
• EXPLORATORY PLAY
• PRETEND/SYMBOLIC PLAY
• SOCIAL PLAY