Philosophy

The Middle Park Kindergarten provides a nurturing and safe environment in which young children are valued and respected. As an educator of young children our Director, Sue Dunn believes children are very capable learners. Sue believes that they have a strong desire to construct meaning and to develop understandings of how the world works, while being very social and eager to experience and enjoy the company of others.

The program allows the children to experience many and varied activities, as well as investigate ideas that interest them. The kindergarten provides activities supporting different learning styles to enable children to discover different ways to express themselves.

Young children need long periods of uninterrupted time to explore, investigate and play with a variety of activities and friends. In doing so they are learning a lot about themselves and others. Through the use of inquiry the children learn to construct meaning, theories and to experiment.

The kindergarten provides a supportive environment that enables children to be active inquirers and learners. It also takes a holistic view of the child and acknowledges that all areas of development are interrelated.

The kindergarten playroom is set up with a variety of learning areas to encourage exploration and investigation. The children are actively encouraged to become independent learners and as such take responsibility for caring for the environment with the teachers. The teachers see themselves as researchers, inquirers and learners working alongside the children.

The establishment of relationships between children, teachers and children, teachers and parents is an important part of the child’s learning and development. We can all learn such a lot from each other.

Sue, our kindergarten teacher, draws a lot of inspiration and motivation for her teaching and curriculum planning from the educators of Reggio Emilia in Northern Italy as well as The Primary Years Programme of the International Baccalaureate Organization.

The Committee of Management is very supportive of the program and constantly look at ways to provide assistance and to improve facilities and resources.

Childhood is a unique time in a person’s life, filled with wond excitement and joy; and we are fortunate to have a kindergarten teacher like Sue who sees it as a privilege to be a small part of it.