Educators hold the Centre’s philosophy and its values of respect, care, justice and unity as the corner stone of the rooms ethos, this is shared and instilled with children in many ways within the learning program. Resources and learning experiences reflect the diversity of our community and uphold different ways of thinking and being. We value cultural inclusion for all children and Aboriginal perspectives with children participating in a daily Acknowledgment to Country.

Kookaburra room educators are committed to creating strong partnerships with families to support children’s learning and development, often utilising information shared by families to follow and extend on children’s interests and to embed family and community participation in the Kookaburra room program. The Kookaburra room also welcomes visitors including artists, musicians, dancers, fitness trainers and Aboriginal leaders.

Our Education and Care Program

We believe the care of children at the centre is a partnership between the family and the centre. Staff acknowledge that families entrust to the centre the care and education of their children and we take that responsibility very seriously. We embrace each child in a holistic way – seeing the child as a whole person with a character, background, family and culture.

We recognise that learning is a play based concept for young children and best occurs when children are able to play in ways they choose and follow the ideas and play experiences that are of interest to them. Our program fosters a sense of curiosity, exploration and questioning by children of the world around them and empowers them to recognise themselves as competent learners and teachers in their own right.

Our learning environment is formed around a child interest and need focus, we believe that child initiated learning ensures the learning process for each child is relevant, effective and interesting. Further we believe that child choice is important, our program features extended periods of free choice time encouraging and allowing children opportunities to build social relationships and interact with peers. We also provide opportunities for children to participate in focused and intentional learning opportunities, these are facilitated by educators through their knowledge of each child, and relationships and connections with children and their families.

Our program is founded on the principles of the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) – Belonging, Being and Becoming.

The EYLF guides all early childhood programs and educators in providing an approved framework for children to develop a sense of who they are and their place of belonging within the context of family and community. The EYLF acknowledges that young children are people in their own right and celebrates their current capabilities, knowledge, and acceptance of themselves and who they are at this point in time. The EYLF also recognises the potential of children and the influence of quality early childhood programs, interactions with responsive caregivers and opportunities to be competent co constructers of learning, on who they will become in the future.