The following statements embrace and reflect the concepts of Belonging, Being and Becoming and we promote and uphold these as key values and beliefs at Narooma Community Preschool.

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Belonging

We believe children;

• Belong not only to a family, but a cultural group, local neighbourhoods and the broader community

• Recognise a safe, secure environment that enables them to build secure, trusting relationships with other children and adults

• Are viewed as capable and valued contributors to small and large group learning experiences

• Learn about their worlds and communicate with others using many different languages

• All families look and feel different, each is unique and each deserves the right to belong and experience a sense of belonging together with families we will make children’s learning experiences inclusive and representative of all family structures within our community

• And their families should have freedom of access to their own children’s learning journey and accompanying documentation as well as the daily program recognising the rules of confidentiality

• Have the right to inclusive education and opportunity for equitable and effective ways to achieve learning outcomes

• Gain a sense of belonging through a variety of group experiences that provides enjoyable opportunities for shared knowledge, response to ideas and suggestions from others as well as the acquisition of new ways of knowing

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Being

We believe children;

• Learn through social interactions and relationships

• Interact using verbal and non-verbal gestures with others for a range of purposes

• Do not always use words but are able to express ideas and create meaning through expressive arts

• Use images, symbols, letters and words to convey meaning

• Along with educators should feel happy, healthy, safe and connected to others

• Are aware of and experience healthy lifestyles, good nutrition, personal hygiene and general wellbeing

• Come with prior understanding and knowledge of mathematical and scientific concepts

• Use language, imagination and communicative skills in dramatic play that reflect familiar experiences and understandings

• Have a strong sense of who they are and their cultural heritage and are able to share and connect with other children and adults

• Are positively supported to self regulate, respond appropriately to their feelings and the feelings of others and to communicate effectively to express their needs and to resolve conflicts

• All persons that attend Narooma Pre-School have the right to a safe environment and acknowledge that staff and management committee have a responsibility to ensure this is monitored and regulated

 

Becoming

We believe children;

• Use technologies to explore and investigate diverse perspectives and make sense of their world

• Should experience continuity in learning that is transferable between settings and helps them to feel secure, confident and connected

• Family, community and cultural practices all shape and influence a child’s view of life. Together they help children to make sense of their world. To understand and respect diversity through many ways of interacting and making connections with people, nature, culture, objects and representations

• Work in partnership with families, educators and the broader community to enrich their lives and enhance learning and wellbeing.

• Use our natural and created environments as spaces where they can create meaning, develop a sense of place, connect with the natural world and feel empowered to lead healthy and sustainable lives

• Need to develop a sense of social responsibility and respect for the environment. This is taught and modelled to children for an awareness of the impact of their lives on the planet and of need to create a sustainable world

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“If we allow people to shape their own small worlds during childhood they will grow up knowing and feeling they can participate in shaping the big world tomorrow.” (Sobel. 1990 p.12)

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• With their families, educators and other professionals can together develop appropriate assessment processes allowing for new understandings to emerge

• Benefit from staff implementation of their personal and theoretical beliefs and philosophies which are respected and valued and underpin the daily program

• Should have a documented record of their learning journey complied together with their educators and families

 

Play

Through play children develop a positive sense of self and values, knowledge and skills to  lay foundations for the next phase of their lives. Fundamentally play provides children with a secure sense of belonging and gives them the freedom and the confidence to be uniquely themselves in the present and shapes who they can become.

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Play is the heart of our philosophy. Children’s interests and emerging ideas are the foundation of our play-based learning and its assessment.

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• We believe play is a natural and universal process of exploration and investigation for children that develops a sense of agency

• In play children make connections as they actively engage with nature, each other, adults, objects and representations. We recognize that play is messy and requires children to wear nonrestrictive clothing that allows freedom in play

• In play children are supported to self regulate, respond appropriately to their feelings and the feelings of others and to communicate effectively to express their needs and to resolve conflicts

• Play allows for the development of co-constructive learning. As children interact with educators and other children they work together in partnerships and experience the benefits and pleasures of exploration and shared learning

• Play provides an opportunity for children to develop critical reflective practices surrounding issues of equity and social justice

• Play is creative and filled with a collage of open-ended experiences that build on children’s existing knowledge, skills and interests to further enhance their learning

• Play presents children with the opportunity to express ideas, dramatise, listen, collaborate, laugh, wonder, to know freedom, solve problems, negotiate, to feel the exhilaration of reaching a mountain peak and the supreme ability to dream dreams

• Play supports and promotes the development of self esteem and the ability to feel confident and take risks

• Play-based learning assist’s children’s ability to accept challenges and develop skills such as persistence and resilience that equip them for life

• Through play children experience success. Together we seek to remove barriers that limit learning

• To engage in technology for fun and to make meaning

• Play provides a platform on which children build on their social experiences to explore other ways of being.

• Through play in individual and group experiences children will try new strategies and transfer knowledge and develop new understandings

• To promote and encourage dispositions that enhances learning of literacy, language, mathematical and scientific understandings.

• Play and developmentally appropriate resources provide the opportunities for spontaneity and intentional teaching moments which will naturally extend children’s knowledge and skills

• Natural spaces, loose parts, realistic objects and representations are central to dramatic play and imagination for all children

• Respect for the environment is incorporated in play children are able to access and care for our natural spaces learning the importance of our part in environmental sustainability