Our Mission

To provide inclusive and responsive early childhood experiences for children and their families that nurture their wellbeing, and through these experiences to foster a strong sense of belonging, being and becoming.

Our Vision

• To cultivate relationships within our Mt Warning Preschool community that are open, respectful and supportive.
• To support each child’s well being and love for learning through play, in partnership with the child’s family and community.
• To demonstrate our commitment to honouring Indigenous Australian perspectives and diversity by using authentic communication skills and collaboration.

Our Values

• We value each child as unique and having individual needs.
• We acknowledge that each child brings their sense of being, belonging and becoming with them into our preschool community and those sensibilities are honoured and celebrated.

• We value and support inclusion in our curriculum by providing information and pathways to support services for families, collaborative problem solving and training for the educators in the service.
• We value play and wellbeing as an integral part of our curriculum.
• We value children having authentic connections to community, country and deep understanding of Indigenous Australian culture

➢ Belonging – acknowledges children’s interdependence with others (family, cultural group, neighbourhood, wider community) and the basis of relationships defining identities;
➢ Being – recognises the importance of here and now in children’s lives; and
➢ Becoming – reflects the process of rapid and significant change that occurs in the early years.

Our Beliefs

We believe…

Our Children:

Are invaluable, unique and powerful individuals existing within the context of their family and their community;
Have a right to secure, respectful and reciprocal relationships with educators to allow their wellbeing to develop through a supportive and secure environment; and
Are competent and resourceful learners who are active contributors to their own learning.

Our Families:

Are children’s first and most influential educators;
Families come from a diverse range of cultures with differing practices, values and beliefs; and these are to be respected and honoured by the preschool, staff and program;
Trust, respect and collaboration form the basis for strong partnerships between families and staff; and
Family involvement is integral to a high quality program.

Our Staff:

Have valuable roles as co-educators with children, families and communities;
Will continually seek ways to build their professional knowledge;
Value reflective practice, engaging in questions of philosophy and ethics with peers, children, families and the community; and
Are valued for their personal and professional contributions by creating an environment of collegiality where communication is open and confidentiality is maintained.

Goals

For Children

To implement a child- centred program based on principles outlined in Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority [ACECQA] the National Quality Framework and the Early Years Learning Framework [EYLF];
To strive to empower children by using their thoughts and ideas throughout the curriculum;
To promote each child’s wellbeing through a range of provisions, experiences and opportunities that build on their understandings, skills, values and sensitivities and promote success;
To support children in their connection to their natural world and authentic understanding and respect for Indigenous Australians, their culture and lore;
To implement an inclusive approach to scaffold children’s growth of identity, self esteem and critical thinking; and
To encourage each child to reach their full potential in accordance with their daily ability.

For Families

To communicate openly and constructively with families through personal discussions, child journals, daily journals and newsletters;
To strive to have understanding and be responsive to family needs, and provide support when required; and
To encourage families to engage in meaningful participation within the program, contributing to their interests and skills and contribute to policies and procedures.
Actively encourage families to join the Management Committee.

For Staff

To provide opportunities for staff to share in decision making and to obtain feedback;
To provide a safe and comfortable working environment with time for programming and other duties; and
To provide ongoing professional development for staff;
To ensure staff is felt valued for their individual strengths and contributions to the fabric of the service.

Program

Our program:

Considers the whole child and the interrelated nature of development and learning. Children need opportunities to practice and consolidate their skills in key learning areas – language and literacy; creative and expressive arts; mathematics; science and social and emotional development, working towards learning outcomes as expressed in EYLF ‘Belonging, Being and Becoming’;
Is developed in response to observations and documentations of children’s strengths, abilities and interests;
Supports a child’s learning through collaboration and communication with other children and adults, and through interacting with the environment, and
Respects and celebrates the diversity within our centre, families, staff and the wider community, playing a role in fostering and developing a social conscience among children with a view addressing social inequities.

Our preschool environment:

Welcomes children, families, staff and celebrates the diversity of cultures in our community;
Provides a balance between a secure home-like space and a stimulating environment that encourages children to explore, solve problems, create and construct; and
Provides opportunities for an appreciation and respect for the natural environment, promoting children’s understanding about their responsibility to the environment.
Challenges children to explore their physical abilities through opportunities to extend and develop skills.

Our preschool community:

Strives to be a centre of inclusiveness and positive wellbeing for early childhood within our community;
Supports community collaboration, providing information to diverse support services within the wider community;
Encourages relationships with community organisations, local councils and schools;
Respects that the needs of children, families, staff and the community are constantly changing and that we must be responsive to those needs in the delivery of our services;
Honours and respects Indigenous Australian culture, voices and their knowledge in taking care of our natural environment; and
Promotes social justice, equity and rights of children, families, staff and management in the wider community.

Our Goals …

For our Program

To implement a flexible program that is responsive to the evolving nature of the early childhood environment, and provides for different learning styles;
To observe children and document their work to form the basis of the program
To use both the indoor and outdoor environment to encourage the children’s ability to observe, perceive, explore, investigate, imagine, make choice sand problem solve;
To provide play areas that stimulate children’s curiosity and imagination whilst promoting a positive sense of wellbeing;
To further embed Indigenous Australian cultural perspectives in all aspects of our programme and ways of teaching;
To introduce children to a wide range of social and cultural experiences, family types and different ways of doing things so they will learn to value diversity, learn to accept challenges they may face.

For our Environment

To ensure each child is visible within the service and establishes a sense of connection;
To maintain resources and present them in thoughtful and intentional ways;
To strive to create environments to promote exploration of who they are and their growth;
To provide experiences that allow children to learn about and encourage sustainability and respectful relationships within our environment;
To encourage children to interact with the environment, seeing many possibilities and using many capabilities.

For our Community

To ensure we operate within the guidelines set down by governing and professional bodies;
To use the established channels of communication with committee, council and the community;
To encourage early childhood and work experience students to take part of the program;
To utilise local services in an effective and meaningful way;
To evaluate our centre goals and programme annually;
To strengthen our ties with local primary schools, supporting children’s transition to formal schooling;
To continue to participate in local community events like Images of Uki, Kinship, World Environment Day and future collaborative community projects.

Ethics & Philosophy