Operating hours
Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 2:40pm
Group 1: Monday, Tuesday and alternate Wednesdays.
Group 2: Thursday, Friday and alternate Wednesdays.
Our centre consists of two units, each offering a pre-prep program on a five-day fortnight basis.
We do not offer before, after-school or vacation care.
Our mission statement
“Connecting children, families, and communities through learning”.
BELONGING- knowing where and with whom you belong- is integral to human existence. Children belong first to a family, a cultural group, a neighbourhood and a wider community. Belonging acknowledges children’s interdependence with others and the basis of relationships in defining identities. In early childhood, and throughout life, relationships are crucial to a sense of belonging. Belonging is central to being and becoming in that it shapes who children are and who they can become.
BEING- recognises the significance of the here and now in children’s lives. It is about the present and them knowing themselves, building and maintaining relationships with others, engaging with life’s joys and complexities, and meeting challenges in everyday life. The early childhood years are not solely preparation for the future but also about the present.
BECOMING- Children’s identities, knowledge, understandings, capacities, skills and relationships change during childhood. They are shaped by many different events and circumstances. Becoming reflects this process of rapid and significant change that occurs in the early years as young children learn and grow. It emphasises learning to participate fully and actively in society.
Our Values
The educators of Clayfield Pre-Prep, Bayview Terrace embrace the following values:
- All children have a right to play, grow and learn in a safe, nurturing environment where they know they belong
- Each child has the right to be an individual and have their physical and emotional needs catered for at all times
- We acknowledge that children are endowed with ’a hundred languages’ and we aim to facilitate endless ways and opportunities for children to express themselves.
- The program is based on the principles of respect, responsibility and community in a supportive and enriching environment based on the interests of the children
- Our practice respects and reflects the community’s aspirations for care and education of young children
- We acknowledge the individuality of parents and families
- Respect is extended to all members of our learning environment and we believe in continuing our well respected traditions with both families and the wider community
- The individual needs of all of the staff is respected by providing a supportive environment for their personal and professional growth
Education is the platform for future success
We acknowledge that education creates opportunities for all children to succeed and that a child’s early years determine much of their future development.
Our overall aim is to allow each child to achieve their own potential through exploring, investigating, problem solving, negotiating, discovery and fun and we acknowledge that children have some control over the direction of their learning. We strive to achieve this through a collaborative curriculum venture, negotiated with children and families and developed by our early childhood professionals.
Relationships are foundational
We acknowledge and respect our nation’s first people and recognise that respect comes from understanding. It is our aim to ensure our practices acknowledge the unique cultures of all people and ensure that no one is disadvantaged whilst accessing our service. We aim to reflect each person and family’s unique culture within our day to day program, and find ways to celebrate this. Of particular importance is instilling traditional events which bring together children and families and are well respected within our community.
We acknowledge families as their child’s first and most important educator and utilise their funds of knowledge in sustaining warm, caring and nurturing relationships with each child. Parents are viwed as partners, collaborators and advocates for their children
We have an underlying belief in the capabilities of children and promote the importance of consulting with children in our daily teaching and learning experiences.
The environment is inseparable to learning
To us, learning environments are more than just a physical space. We pride ourselves in focusing on the holistic development of the child by carefully considering the social, emotional, linguistic, temporal, cognitive and creative elements which the child journeys through.
We are also proud of our physical indoor and outdoor settings in which children thrive through their engagement in natural, sustainable and purposefully designed areas where they can ask questions, solve problems and engage in critical thinking.
Leadership impacts on the quality of all that we do
We believe we are all curriculum leaders and recognise that effective leadership is evidenced through a visible process of empowering others, leading the profession and collaborating with the extended community to achieve positive outcomes.
We are passionate about promoting the importance of early childhood education and utilise our curriculum frameworks to make learning visible to families and the wider community. We utilise both the National Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and Building Waterfalls II to guide the implementation of the educational program and embed their key principles in our practice.
Our Practices and Principles
Our Curriculum
We advocate for a play-based approach to curriculum, one that focuses on the interests of young children and also the intentional planning undertaken by educators.
We acknowledge and utilise the cyclic nature of curriculum development and believe that quality curriculum is an ongoing, collaborative and continuous endeavour. We are therefore continually observing, planning, enacting, reflecting and evaluating.
We endeavour to provide a balance between child led, child initiated and educator supported learning. Of most importance is making learning fun and meaningful by utilising the children’s contexts.
We will work with children to promote and model positive ways to relate to others.
Our routines, transitions and play experiences provide children with a sense of security and stability, enabling children to predict what will happen next, build confidence and a sense of self. We foster a sense of belonging and community within our own individual class by honouring traditions and rituals such as meal times.
We share the learning that has occurred and make learning visible to families through Daily Programs or Learning Journals. This fosters the integral connection between the home environment and the Pre-Prep.
Establishing and sustaining relationships
We value, respect and acknowledge the significance of the family and community in a child’s development and as a result, seek active involvement within our program.
We establish partnerships prior to the arrival at the Pre-Prep through our Orientation Day and by sending welcome letters to both parents and children.
We actively encourage families to stay in the mornings to engage in activities with their child as well as make friendships with other parents.
We pride ourselves on being well regarded within the community for valuing and continuing traditions such as our Easter Hat Parades, Mother’s Day Luncheon, Father’s Day Breakfasts and Christmas Concerts as well as our work for local community groups through fundraising, donations and active involvement.
Our families are encouraged to contribute and become involved in our curriculum planning by sharing their child’s interests, strengths and individual goals as well as participate daily through our Stay and Play and Parent Helper Programs.
We believe communication is essential for authentic relationships to take place and acknowledge the many ways of communicating with families. Families are well informed of their child’s learning and development through both individual Portfolios, Daily Programs and Learning Journals, meetings, discussions, Learning Summaries and Parent/ Teacher Interviews.
Our Physical Learning Environments
We strive to provide aesthetically pleasing play spaces that allow children to engage in collaborative inquiry, observe, ask questions, reflect on their actions and engage in meaningful and self-directed activities.
We acknowledge that children learn through experiences of touching, moving, listening and observing.
Our outdoor environment values children’s engagement in natural settings where they are able to safely take risks, engage all their senses and develop an appreciation for sustainable practices and living things.
Our indoor environments are carefully planned and designed and are altered regularly in response to the children’s evolving interests. These play spaces encourage multiple ways for children to develop and represent their thinking and learning in regards to various topics of exploration.
We believe in children having ownership over their learning environments whereby they are able to make decisions and changes in the design of the indoor and outdoor spaces.
Through engagement in both the indoor and outdoor environment children are provided with opportunities to:
- Be creative- through music, language, drama, clay, paint, dough, paper, natural materials
- Take risks, challenge their thinking, skills and ideas
- Dramatise their family and adult world through role-play
- Experience a wide range of textural and sensory activities
- Enjoy quiet times of concentration with books, puzzles and manipulative games
- Enjoy and participate in outdoor activities
- Be a part of a larger social circle as we come together to plan our learning, explore texts, stories and language and express ourselves through music and movement
- Have opportunities to build friendships with peers
Our Educators
We recognise that passionate, highly-qualified and skilled educators are an integral component in the provision of high quality early childhood education and care.
We advocate for exceeding the national standards for educator to child ratios in order to provide children with smaller group experiences as well as more one-to-one interactions.
Our early childhood professionals are committed to lifelong learning and as a result engage in regular professional development and professional dialogue to ensure the most contemporary research and theorists are used as a basis for shaping curriculum decisions.
Key Points
The early years are critical to each individual’s development and how they achieve in the rest of their life
Each child is seen as a unique and special person
The opportunity to play and the use of it as a tool for learning is seen as a critical component of our approach to working with young children
Creating opportunities for children to be capable, resourceful and resilient are essential in building strong independent children
A connectedness with parents and family is important in how we all work together for the benefit of each child.
Our fundamental aim is to grow together as a community where all members can experience a sense of belonging, being and becoming.
Social Media
