Program/Curriculum

Belonging, Being and Becoming - The Early Years Learning Framework describes the principles, practices and outcomes that support and enhance young children's learning from birth to five years of age, including their transition to school. This framework governs our everyday approaches with the children and is reflective in all forms of documentation including our service philosophy.

Our curriculum at Toxteth Kindergarten provides a holistic and individualized program, tailored to the growing developmental needs and interests of each and every child and finding ‘teachable’ moments in both planned and spontaneous play throughout the day. Each child receives their own portfolio which documents their individualised learning journey. Educators also create daily journals which are available as a recap of your child’s day and at the end of the week, these daily journals are emailed to each individual family as a weekly diary, a great tool to reflect with your child on their week at Toxteth Kindergarten. Documentation of our curriculum is also displayed in project books, wall displays and in our daily programming books.

School Readiness Program

Toxteth Kindergarten also provides a school readiness program to the preschool group starting school the following year. This program is called Head Start and is designed to support and further extend the preschool children’s developmental learning areas including their social, emotional, cognitive, communicative and physical development. At Toxteth Kindergarten we view school readiness as more than just a child’s ability to know their ABC’s or to count and therefore this program takes on a more holistic approach, recognising the whole child and in turn providing many learning opportunities for children to develop and further extend their life skills in preparation for their journey into primary school. Head Start is run by an Early Childhood Teacher, (university trained) and through ongoing reflective practices caters for the needs of the individual children as well as the preschool group as a whole.

Emotional and Social Development

Social and Emotional skills support preschoolers to:

Participate in play
Approach children in a positive way and make new friends
Show an interest in others and make friends
Express individual needs and wants
Cope and deal with conflict in an appropriate manner
Express emotions
Engage in turn taking and sharing
Follow and understand directions and rules
Cope with transitions.

Self Help Skills

Self-help skills are a fundamental component of a child being ready for school. This builds confidence within their school environment and helps the children to get through the day to day routine.

Self Help Skills support preschoolers to:

Use the toilet and wash hands unassisted
Dress and undress themselves, independently
Unpack own lunch and drink from a drink bottle
Deal with a structured environment
Put on and take off socks and shoes independently
Recognise their bodily needs and have confidence to ask to go to the bathroom, get a drink etc.

Physical Play

Physical skills support preschoolers to:

Run, jump and balance
Use equipment such as balls and climbing equipment
Use pencils, crayons, textas, glue and scissors.

Small and Large Group Times

Your child will participate in a variety of small and large group experiences throughout each day. Within these experiences we focus on the children building their confidence to participate and interact with their peers co-operatively, focusing and attending, listening and following instructions and contributing towards the group experience, placing their hand in the air when they wish to talk to the teacher and waiting their turn.

Language and Music Group Times

Music and literacy go hand in hand in early childhood and your child will participate in a variety of language and music based learning experiences with a focus on extending phonic recognition.

Quiet Time

Preschoolers, who will be entering school the following year, will have a choice to read quietly or engage in a quiet activity instead of resting on their beds.

School Readiness Information for Parents

We provide parents and families with literature on what a ‘school ready’ child will look like while also encouraging them to have conversations with the preschool educators to discuss their child’s progress. The parent teacher interviews in June are also a great forum for gaining more insight into your child’s development and school readiness. We would also love any current information parents may have on school readiness from local schools to share with us, so please see us if you have anything to contribute.

Supporting Families

We recognise that during this stage a lot of parents and families may have concerns and anxieties regarding their child starting school for the first time. We are here to support you and your child and recognise the importance of parents, families and educators working together to ensure each individual child becomes a confident learner, setting the foundation for lifelong learning.