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Stockton centre philosophy:
We believe that our centre is to provide the community with quality educational care for children through an environment that is warm, safe, welcoming, fun, educational and supportive. We hope to provide this by encouraging positive relationships and interactions with the children, families, staff and the community.
We believe that quality educational care requires trained and experienced staff. We encourage staff to further their early childhood skills and knowledge through staff meetings, in-services and professional development. The teachers at our centre are professionals who are dedicated to providing the best early childhood education and display genuine love and concern for the children.
The early childhood years are a crucial stage of physical, intellectual, language, emotional and social development, and the needs of each child and their family are a first priority of our centre. Children will be placed in the most appropriate group for them, based on age and the needs of the child and their family. Each child is recognised as a unique individual who progresses through their development at their own pace.
This developmental rate is monitored and recorded by the teachers. A child in need of assistance in a particular area shall receive encouragement to participate in individually planned learning experiences that will assist their development. All children are given opportunities to make choices & to display independence to allow children to be active participants and to inspire a positive self-esteem.
Diversity within the community is recognised and each family is valued by our centre. Each parent is recognised as a unique individual, entitled to their thoughts, opinions and beliefs. Parental and community involvement in our centre is encouraged, welcomed and valued, on a voluntary basis, according to each parent's willingness and availability.
Parents and teachers will endeavour to work together as a team to help each child reach their maximum potential by offering information and support to assist each other. This valuable partnership will contribute to enriching children's learning opportunities.
Play is the foundation of our centre's program and it incorporates experiences which are relevant to the children's ages, interests, needs, abilities, and is inspired by the Early Years Learning Framework & practices from Reggio Emilia. These experiences are integrated through a combination of indoor and outdoor learning activities.
We believe that young children learn most effectively when they are actively involved in their learning process, through hands on experiences, exploring their environment and interacting with adults and other children. These hands-on experiences are incorporated during individual, small, large and mixed group experiences where the children explore the world around them. This encourages the children to be respectful, sensitive and thoughtful towards their natural environment.
We believe that young children need adult guidance and positive behaviour management to learn to interact, develop relationships and behave in a socially acceptable way. Simple, clear rules are given to children with explanations and are consistently applied.
Teacher's role model desired co-operative pro-social behaviour, and give praise and recognition to children. Opportunities are provided for children to socially interact with others, and with guidance, to respect the rights, differences and feelings of others, and encouragement to settle differences in a peaceful way.
We believe that children are to be encouraged to develop their own personality, to hold their own thoughts, opinions and ambitions, and to express their creativity and ideas confidently. Children have a right to grow up with a good self image and a high self esteem.
We believe that every person, regardless of age, race, gender, religion, socio-economic status or disability has the right to be treated with respect, and accepted for whom they are, and be offered the same opportunities as another person. We aim to celebrate diversity through inclusive & extensive experiences within the centre, families & the community.
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