3 Year Old Wombat Program
(22 students in 2024)
The foundations of children’s lives begin at home, and the right early childhood education program should build on what parents have already established.
Our three year old program aims to support and nourish children’s characteristics and personalities. In comfortable and secure surroundings, we allow children to explore who they are in this world.
The hours spent at kindergarten see the children encouraged to discover their own creativity, which in turn fosters their self-esteem.
We have a strong emphasis on play based on learning. Through play, children learn problem solving, how to accept each other’s differences and working together. Our staff guide children to positive ways of dealing with anger and conflicts.
Our community is diverse, and we work with parents and families to support the children in our care.
We implement programs based on the goals of the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework. Our vision is for all children to experience play based learning that is engaging and builds success for life.
4 Year Old Koala Program
(22 student in 2024)
Our program nurtures the children’s social, emotional, physical and intellectual skills, preparing the children for their first year of school.
We ensure that children play and work to achieve their individual potential. The pathway to becoming an independent and co-operative member of the group starts with:
- Promoting language development
- Encouraging involvement in activities and interactions with others
- Building confidence and self-worth
- Guiding them to explore, discover, create and experiment
- Enhancing gross and fine motor skill
- Teaching an acceptance and respect for others and improving concentration by developing a sense of excitement in learning
Each session includes indoor and outdoor learning experiences. Some unstructured play for children is vital in supporting individual growth, working in a group and supporting problem solving skills.
Throughout our sessions, we have a variety of group activities that include books, music, games and discussions. The children are given opportunities to contribute their own ideas and interests as part of Alfred Road Kindergarten’s learning program. We want the children to ask questions, and enquire about their world.
Children also take part in our Mandarin Chinese language program 3 hours per week. Increased literary, enhanced reading skills and cognitive flexibility are all linked to learning a language in early-childhood. Acquiring new language skills helps to strengthen brain development, improve problem-solving skills and gives a child a richer understanding of how languages work.
We are fortunate to back onto a large reserve, and throughout the year we take regular trips into the reserve behind us. We also use the reserve to run sports sessions weekly for 6 weeks in term 3.
Our kindergarten reflects our diverse community. Multiculturalism is a particularly important focus here. We pride ourselves on celebrating all relevant cultural festivals and encouraging children to share their experiences.
Chinese Language Program
In 2019 the Victorian State Government introduced a pilot program to support language programs in Kindergartens.
Alfred Road Kindergarten proudly joined this pilot program and runs a free program teaching children Chinese Mandarin to our 4-year-old Koalas group. The program is run by a fully trained Early Childhood Teacher across two sessions a week, totaling 3 hours during the normal Kindergarten program. It is then supported and embedded across the week’s program.
We are very proud of our language program, as it has been enjoyed by the children and supported by all the Koala families each year. Research and our experience demonstrates many benefits of children learning an additional language from a young age. It increases their overall language acquisition and supports development of literacy and numeracy skills, cognitive flexibility, and problem solving skills alongside cultural engagement and appreciation.
As supported by our philosophy, Chinese Mandarin is introduced through play-based activities and include oral repetitions, songs and music, group games and discussions and crafting activities.
As language and culture are intertwined, Chinese cultural events are also explored including Chinese New Year and the Dragon Boat Festival. We also look at distinctive parts of Chinese culture such as Tai Chi and calligraphy, as well as the history and natural environment of the region from the Great Wall to giant pandas.
The staff and committee proudly support the Chinese Mandarin program at Alfred Road Kindergarten, please ask us about it when you visit our centre.
