Kindergarten
Preparing for a life of learning
Our co-educational Kindergarten program has been a vital part of Lauriston since 1992.
When your child becomes a part of our community, our dedicated and passionate educators seek to both know and understand them. It’s a connection that allows us to help reveal their ideas, positively challenge their thinking, and develop their sense of identity.
Our dynamic 3 and 4-year-old curriculums emphasise interaction with people, materials, and real-life situations to help each child establish their foundational physical, social, emotional, and cognitive skills.
It’s a grounding that’s seen Lauriston Kindergarten create generations of confident, lifelong learners.
We also have a strong and inclusive network of parents who find friendships and community at Lauriston. Importantly, we work closely with you as parents to ensure your child is ready to thrive in Prep and beyond.
We look forward to welcoming you to our Kindergarten community.
Chris Toms Vice-Principal, Head of Junior School
Our Philosophy
Inspired by Reggio Emilia, our Kindergarten is a celebration of childhood.
It’s a place of warmth, fun, joy, and laughter. A safe place, where each child is encouraged and respected for who they are.
At Lauriston, our Kindergarten programs are grounded in robust inquiry and play-based learnings which support children as they are challenged to solve problems and engage with their community and the environment. This combination of an expertly planned curriculum with rich learning environments means our children can immerse themselves in both child and teacher-led play, learning to embrace new experiences, build social skills and develop their curiosity.
The end result is children who can express themselves with confidence, develop foundational skills in literacy and numeracy and above all, enjoy learning.
Reflecting the importance of a child’s earliest years, our current building project will re-imagine the learning and play spaces to ensure your child is supported by the very latest facilities.
We’d love to welcome you to our Kindergarten so you can see for yourself the inclusive community we nurture and the depth and breadth of learning opportunities available to your child.
Fiona Ireland Director of Kindergarten
The vital early years
The role that a quality kindergarten plays in establishing a child’s self-esteem, resilience and future capacity to learn is impossible to underestimate.
At the heart of such an education is a team of skilled educators and at Lauriston, we have Australia’s best. Educators who collaborate with each child to identify their interests and opportunities to learn. By establishing this relationship with each child, they can guide them in achieving tasks, while developing their skills, aptitudes, and confidence.
Getting the balance right between structured and free play is also a crucial part of what we do. Children’s freedom to express themselves through play is fundamental to the development of their intellectual, social, physical, and emotional skills. Indeed, of those, emotional maturity is perhaps the key to determining a child’s readiness for school.
A quality Kindergarten helps children manage the social demands of the learning environment, learn to form healthy relationships, build the resilience to recover from disappointment or sadness, overcome frustration, and express anger in acceptable ways.
The imperative to give all children a strong early start is more and more pressing. Children’s early experiences have a profound and long-lasting impact on individual children’s well-being and happiness during childhood, as well as their later life outcomes, including education, employment, health, citizenship and life satisfaction.
OECD Early Learning Matters Report, 2018
The Lauriston difference
The learning programs we offer in our Kindergarten are highly developed and focused on supporting children in their critical early years. Our team of skilled and experienced educators make the most of this important developmental window, to ensure our children thrive in Prep and beyond.
A well-rounded, holistic education
Along with the vital work of developing pre-numeracy and literacy capabilities, we have planned programs to develop skills in STEM, the creative arts and celebrate culture within our curriculum, to broaden the children’s understanding of themselves and their place in the world.
Specialist classes are offered in both kinder years and include Music, Drama, Physical Education and Bush Kinder. It’s a broad program, enhanced by its connection to a wider School where our Kindergarten students learn in dedicated STEM lab, gym, pool, music, and drama facilities.
If needed, children also have access to speech and occupational therapy on site, with nurses available at the School.
Our holistic approach also makes sure the children develop emotional maturity and social competence. It’s how they learn to manage and respond to their emotions and develop experience of social interactions, so that they can reach their full potential.
An experienced team of educators
Professionally qualified, experienced, and knowledgeable, most of the educators at our Kindergarten have spent years within the Lauriston teaching community and enjoy an excellent reputation for their enthusiastic and dedicated approach. In addition to the full-time educators, children are guided by others who support general learning and run specialist programs.
An individual approach
At Lauriston Kindergarten, our educators actively seek out and build on the interests and knowledge of each individual child. Our smaller class sizes are an important part of this. They allow our educators the time and space to build an understanding of each child and their creative abilities. It’s an approach that helps children who are ready to learn at an enhanced rate, while also catering for those who may need extra support.
Guided, play-based learning
There’s ample research to suggest play is one of the most important ways children learn to negotiate their own interests, find out where they belong in the world and build their confidence and resilience. At Lauriston, we encourage learning through purposeful play led by the educator. This helps children develop the ability to regulate their emotions, see the perspectives of others, negotiate and compromise and ultimately, learn to confidently make their own decisions.
Inspired by Reggio Emilia
‘The Hundred Languages of Children’ by Reggio Emilia founder, Loris Malaguzzi, lies at the heart of the Lauriston Kindergarten philosophy. It’s been described as the symbolic languages children use to express their knowledge and interests through art, conversations, early writing, dramatic play, music, and dance. Our educators provide the children with many opportunities to express themselves through their creativity and the insights they share.
A sense of community
We foster in our children a sense of gratitude for their situation and empathy with others. A big part of this is the chance for our children to make a hands-on contribution to a host of grassroots charity organisations through our Girls In Values Education (GIVE) program.
A love of the environment
Along with parents and educators, the Reggio Emilia philosophy sees the environment as a child’s third teacher. Within our rooms and outdoor spaces, we create situations that encourage a child’s love of investigation while teaching a respect for the objects, furniture and resources which help to develop their social, emotional, and intellectual capacities. The outdoor environment is equally respected, as both our educators and children reflect on the wonder of the natural world and what it can teach.
A focus on wellbeing
Recognising a child’s diverse needs and celebrating his or her achievements are key points in our program’s philosophy. Both help to build self-esteem and a sense of belonging. Emotional and social skills strengthen further through our focus on kindness and connection with nature via Bush Kinder. Together, they create a sense of wellbeing and ensures children are ready for the challenges that lie beyond our Kindergarten gate.
Making connections
More than simply a Kindergarten, Lauriston is an inclusive, family-centred community. When their children join this community, our parents join a group of like-minded people where they can find lifelong friends. Along with our parents’ What’s App groups, Lauriston educators provide regular webinars for parents to increase their knowledge of topical issues such as understanding anxiety.
Literacy and numeracy
Language skills and mathematical proficiency are two of the keys that unlock a child’s future.
At Lauriston Kindergarten, we establish the foundations of literacy through a child’s enjoyment of texts, building a knowledge of grammar, honing listening skills, and building familiarity with new communication technologies. We do this by listening and talking in small groups, reading stories, and discussing them, using technology, and weaving real world examples into play, such as menus and signage.
Mathematical concepts such as distance, weight and quantities are learned naturally through guided play. It allows every child to develop a solid understanding of numbers, learn to count fluently, and then reason and problem solve using simple mathematical challenges.
The language of kindness
At Lauriston Kindergarten, the children learn that making friends is deeply rooted in acts of kindness, showing empathy, and understanding and caring about each other.
Important life values, such as kindness and empathy, are more important now than ever before. Our aim is to instil in our children the sense of wellbeing that flows from kind acts and kind thoughts.
We teach that those kind words come from a happy place within us and celebrate the many small acts of kindness we perform each day, such as smiling, greeting each other, opening a door, and using manners.
STEM learning
Many things children do in daily play builds the foundations of a STEM education.
At Lauriston Kindergarten, our role as educators is to plan activities that stimulate a child’s natural curiosity. It’s crucial to building the higher-level thinking and problem-solving skills that allow children to create and innovate with confidence.
One example is our block area. It’s an environment that children naturally gravitate to, where they design and build intricate structures. Just by having fun, they learn the concepts of stability and balance, the properties of materials, and their number and spatial reasoning.
We also provide simple educational robotics called Bee-Bots and Cubetto to provide an introduction to the basics of computer coding. Learning is driven by the children and they incorporate Bee-Bots in their activities, for example to measure each other or to understand the dimensions of a building project. The Kindergarten children also regularly visit the School’s FabLearn Lab where they gain experience of simple design concepts using the 3D printer.
Building and exploring STEM concepts alongside the children allows us to guide their creativity, develop their problem-solving skills and hone their abilities to predict, hypothesise and experiment. Qualities that are essential for developing confidence in STEM thinking.
Building the apparatus alongside the children allows us to guide their creativity, develop their problem-solving skills and hone their abilities to predict, hypothesise and experiment. Qualities that are essential for developing STEM thinking.
Bush Kinder
The Lauriston Bush Kinder campus at the Urban Forest between Waverley and Dandenong Roads offers a unique learning environment for our children.
It’s a place where they learn to take calculated risks and enhance their imaginative play. Indeed, as a perfectly balanced play space, nature enables children to problem-solve and become independent, while enjoying uninterrupted time to pursue games of imagination and creativity.
It’s also ideal for developing strong core muscles, good posture, and helps with fine motor skills that ultimately lead to effective handwriting.
“Growing evidence suggests that exposure to greenspace, such as forests, parks, and gardens, has a positive effect on early childhood development. Exposure to greenspace is associated with better wellbeing; reduced behavioural problems; and improvements in attention and working memory.”
Assessing the association between lifetime exposure to greenspace and early childhood development. Published by Elsevier Ltd. 2021
Celebrating difference
Our focus on cultural awareness explores culture, identity, language and traditions of the many cultures of our community.
We’re fortunate and privileged to welcome Murrindindi, elder of the Wurundjeri tribe that lived on the land we now occupy, into the Kindergarten each year.
Murrundindi spends time with each group of children, sharing stories, his language, and the history of his culture as he leads the children through many authentic activities such as ochre painting, weaving, cooking damper, making tea, and playing Indigenous games.
Artist in residence
Every year we’re fortunate to have an artist in residence in our Kindergarten, funded by the Lauriston Parents’ Association (LPA) and Lauriston Arts Association (LAA).
Along with feeding their sense of wonder and curiosity, the process of creating art expands a child’s ability to interact with the world around them, encouraging exploration and collaboration.
Former artists in residence include sculptor Deborah Edwards and children’s author and illustrator Andrew Plant.
The artists, through their medium of choice, use their expertise to guide and support each child’s unique strengths and perspectives to create a final meaningful piece of art. These creative outputs live on in the Kindergarten adding to the vibrancy of the spaces and forming a reminder of each group of young artists that come through the Kindergarten Program.
Optimising learning opportunities
Our Kindergarten’s hours of 8:45am – 3:00pm reflect and respect the significant capacities of children to learn and develop in their early years.
Before and After Care
To help meet the needs of busy families, parents can combine their Kindergarten program with our Before and After Care Program, which is held at the Kindergarten and is run by professionally trained staff.
Connecting parents with learning outcomes
Communication with parents is a vital part of every child’s learning experience. We use the Seesaw app to capture a daily learning opportunity from each group and we populate a reflective learning journal for each child, which highlights in more detail their inquiries.
Formal individual assessments occur each semester, and meetings with parents to discuss the results, are arranged to ensure individual support is provided if required. We also run a pathway to Prep program to support both parents and children through the transition to School.
Programs and hours Kindergarten:
3-year-old Kindergarten
• Three days – two options available
• Four days – one option available
• Hours of operation 8.45am–3.00pm
4-year-old Kindergarten
• Four days – Monday to Thursday
• Hours of operation 8.45am–3.00pm
• Co-curricular programs include Dance, Swimming and Bush Kinder. Bush Kinder is offered on Friday between 9.30am to 1.30pm (limited places)
Before and After School Care
• Before School Hours: 7.30am–8.45am
• After School Hours: 3.00pm–6.00pm
Holiday Program
• Holiday Program Hours: 7.30am–6.00pm (Lauriston students only)
Connect with us
Find us on Facebook @LauristonArmadale
Follow us on Instagram @lauriston.gs
Lauriston Girls’ School 38 Huntingtower Road Armadale VIC 3143 Australia
+61 3 9864 7555 admissions@lauriston.vic.edu.au lauriston.vic.edu.au
ABN 15 004 264 402 CRICOS No. 00152F
Primary Years Course Code: 015713K
Secondary Years Course Code: 005356J
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the Land, the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung, the Boonwurrung and the Taungurung peoples of the Kulin Nations, whose sovereignty was never ceded, and pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and future, for they hold the memories, traditions, culture and hopes of First Nations Peoples. We also recognise their continuing connection to Country and culture.
We acknowledge that our community is diverse; and Lauriston values an inclusive and accepting environment for all ages, genders, abilities, races, religions, sexualities and cultures.