Before and after school care
Excellent service for Educators to join
Extended hours and overnight care
Child care in educators home with govt subsidy
Philosophy Statement
At KIDS we believe that well resourced, supported and educated people are the most successful and offer the highest quality. KIDS make sure the educators are equipped with the knowledge and confidence to provide responsive, challenging, exciting and caring programs for the children in their care. At KIDS we believe that all children need a safe, secure and stimulating environment to become confident learners and develop to their full potential. Children learn through having well-rounded opportunities in all areas offered to them and by being hands on participants in their learning.
Our philosophy of education is influenced by the Reggio Emilia approach to child centred learning, connections with the community and strong family collaboration. The learning experiences are based on the children’s interests, developmental level and educator knowledge to encourage the children to discover, experiment, explore and investigate. Children learn by doing and there are so many daily opportunities in family day care such as preparing food, helping others, going on walks, exploring the local community, engaging with others within the community and within the family day care group, arts and crafts as well as structured experiences throughout the day. Learning opportunities are endless.
Early Childhood Experiences
- Fine Motor Development: used to increase small muscle development. This may include manipulating puzzles, drawing, colouring, painting, beading and manipulating print materials
- Cognitive Development: used in our interactive learning environment. This includes the engagement with peers, adults, materials and activities.
- Physical Development: used in our interactive environment. This may include running, jumping, climbing, catching and ball playing, and structured outdoor time.
- Social Development: used to promote active learning experiences. This will be done by the use of many dramatic play experiences such as pretend play and role playing, games and turn taking and working together on projects such as cooking or craft.
- Mathematical skills & Critical Thinking: used to increase all developmental areas. This may include phonological awareness, vocabulary knowledge, problem solving, creative planning, number concepts and peer interactions.
- Emotional Development: used to increase positive self concepts. This may include the importance of human relationships such as peer interactions and adult/child interactions. This also includes peer negotiations, the ability to make choices and how to properly interact with others.
By focusing on the whole child and providing stimulating experiences, KIDS educators help children to develop and advance their learning skills.
Theoretical Foundation
Highly influenced by the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education the programs are child centred, play based and focused on the environment, teacher and family as integral parts of developing the whole child. As we begin to think about ‘learning through play’, the emergent curriculum is part of the early childhood methodology we utilise to foster learning in children. Our curriculum is diverse from group to group, yet planned to reflect the KIDS philosophy as well as the educators and families own educational values and interests.
Our goals are;
Activities with children aim to be child directed, educators assist in the scaffolding of learning.
We construct the learning environment as a means for learning and educators set up the environment to allow children to explore, to question, to work independently, within a group or with an adult.
Within our learning community, we use different aspects of emergent curriculum, Creative Curriculum, Jean Piaget’s philosophy, the eight stages of Erick Erickson’s approach to learning, Howard Gardener’s concept of multiple intelligences, and supportive elements of the Reggio Emilia approach.
Our objective is to create critical thinking in young children. This is done by; forming a healthy attachment to adults, developing a positive self image, developing the ‘whole child’ and supporting the idea of continuous growth through an enriched curriculum.
To further support children’s growth and development in the learning environment, we encourage family involvement. Family involvement includes maintaining the conceptual approach to children’s learning as parents serving as primary teachers of their children. To further support these concepts we attempt to build a partnership between students, parents, educators, administration and the community at large.
Our vision is to prepare respectful, responsible, caring, skilled, and literate lifelong learners through a stimulating, integrated curriculum that nurtures individual strengths, and talents in a safe environment. The environmental set up includes many diverse cultures, languages, and themes as well as the “100 languages” of Reggio Emilia expression. ( art, craft, language, text, film)
