Kindergarten report

Fiona Ireland Director of Kindergarten

Play is essential for optimal development and research shows that play enhances every aspect of children’s growth and learning. Play nourishes a child’s development and forms the foundation of intellectual, social, physical and emotional skills that are necessary for building their understanding about the world around them. We value the many possibilities and significant learning opportunities found in play, where there is no one right or wrong way to do things.

Children construct knowledge and develop richer understandings by interacting with their physical world and sharing their ideas and opinions with other children and adults. Play allows children to make sense of their experiences and discover the joy of friendship and teamwork, acting as a vehicle for the establishment of a social and cultural environment within our community.

By building upon each child’s current curiosity and knowledge we search together to discover new and different possibilities and encourage children to take responsibility for initiating their own creativity and learning.

We are inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach, which underpins our values and beliefs about how children learn and think and provokes us to reflect and revise our ever-changing image of the child as a creator and architect of his/her own learning, a creator rather than a consumer. Lauriston Kindergarten is also informed by The Early Years Learning and Development Framework (EYLDF). The framework draws on conclusive internationally recognised evidence that early childhood is a vital period in children’s development and learning. It emphasises play-based learning that is supported by intentional teaching and recognises the importance of social/ emotional development and communication/ language skills, including early literacy and numeracy. The Framework outlines the highest expectation for children’s learning and development from birth through to their transitions to school.

The Kindergarten Curriculum is informed by the development of a Big Idea.

In 2022 the educators and children explored the theme of ‘Curious Listening’. Curiosity is a strength within the virtue category of wisdom, a desire to be inquisitive and to know more on a given topic. To develop curiosity children are given strategies in developing questioning skills. Questioning gives depth to thought and reason so children gain a deeper level of understanding and make valuable contributions to the knowledge base.

Inquiry skills are important for children’s learning. It requires them to be active participants as they gather information, analyse their findings, and apply critical thinking to what they learn. Instead of memorizing facts, students learn by doing.

This allows them to build knowledge through exploration, experience, and discussion. Listening is a crucial skill for young children to learn, it is a basic building block of language and communication and one of the main vehicles of a child’s learning.

After two years of periods of lockdown, in 2022 the kindergarten made social development a high priority. The ‘Stay Play and Talk’ program is well established within our curriculum and is a peer mediated intervention designed to increase the social interactions of target children. Although this program is commonly used for children with immature social skills or children who lack social competence, we see the benefits of using it in all our settings, with all the children.

The kindergarten was again able to run the ‘Artist in Residence Program’, which had been on hold for two years. The ‘Artist in Residence’ program allows our kindergarten students to engage with a chosen artist, who works with them on campus to create a meaningful piece of art, linked to the ‘Big Idea’ for the year. We welcomed Deborah Edwards a sculptor who worked with the children using the medium of clay. We were all keen to work with the idea of celebration, little children love to celebrate particularly birthdays so the idea was formed that the children would make a birthday cake. As the children worked on the design with Deborah, she was able to give the children skills to work with the clay and use their hands and the implements to gain the desired affects.

Many techniques were used when it came time to decorate the cake. The birthday cake now stands in the kindergarten playground as a reminder of the children of 2022.

In August the four-five-year-old children were able to visit the museum on an excursion. This generated much excitement as the children explored the theme of the dinosaurs and the environment in which they lived. It created a wonderful community feel as many parents accompanied us on the day.

We were fortunate and privileged to welcome Murrundindi back into our Kindergarten environment to immerse the children in the rich culture of his heritage. Murrundindi is the Elder of the Wurundjeri clan from the Healesville area. The Wurundjeri people lived on the land we now occupy. Each group has the opportunity to listen and engage with Murrundindi and prepare a number of questions to ask him.

Murrundindi spent the time, sharing stories and songs as well as playing the digeridoo. We looked at a number of artefacts and he taught us some words from the Wurundjeri language. We have learnt the Indigenous names of all our groups as well as new ways to wish each other “good morning”, “enjoy your meal” and to say “see you later”. The educators at the kindergarten believe it is vital to educate children around cultural awareness. As well as education about first nations people we celebrate the many different cultures that are part of our community as we wish to broaden the understandings of the children.