Philosophy and aims of Jindera Preschool

We at Jindera Preschool welcome and include all children and their families into our community. Our community is our children, their families, the Educators and all the people, services, schools, businesses, and organisations that the preschool has connections with. As part of this community, we at Jindera Preschool have a responsibility to establish and maintain a sense of belonging and connection to the land and to our shared Aboriginal history and culture, to actively embrace reconciliation and share this message. We believe our role is to engage, celebrate and learn from the Wiradjuri People in a collaborative authentic partnership within our preschool and our broader community.

Each child, family and educator is a unique and valued individual. We value and honour diversity and accept and celebrate differences in other people. We believe each person and their family’s values, culture, belief, abilities, diversity, and language should be acknowledged and accepted and reflected in the preschool environment. We believe that learning is enhanced in an environment where you feel safe, and you feel you belong. We believe in developing respectful relationships with children, families, and staff through open and meaningful communication. We encourage and support children to interact collaboratively, express empathy for others and actively challenge bias and promote social justice and equality.

We encourage each family to participate in the preschool community and support and welcome their interest and involvement. We believe in supporting and developing partnerships with families to share in the valued role of Early Years Education and development.

We provide a safe and secure environment where we encourage children to engage, challenge themselves and explore boundaries through risky play and inquisitive engagements. As educators we guide children to be inspired and creative by our natural environment through hands on investigations, fostering an understanding and respect of the interdependence between people, plants, animals, and the land. Our preschool program is enhanced by our Indoor/Outdoor approach, supporting children’s individual choices developing a sense of agency in allowing a child to make choices about their play, needs and interest within their preschool day.

Our program is guided by the Reggio Emilia Approach and influenced by practices of Clare Warden and Nikki Buchanan. Our programming and decision-making processes align with the Early Years Learning Framework (2009), National Quality Framework (2018) and aims to reflect other current pedagogy and best practice related to Early Childhood Education. Staff at Jindera Preschool are empowered to continually update their knowledge and skills and engage in professional development that builds themselves as individuals, professionals, and our preschool as a whole. We believe in advocating for the rights of the children by promoting awareness of the importance and value of early childhood education, children’s services and issues relating to young children and their families. We believe in empowering children to have a voice in matters that affect them, their preschool, and their lives. We include children in developing our preschool environment and our program. We encourage and support children’s independence, self-confidence, resilience, and inquisition. We believe that every child is capable, our role is to guide, support, encourage and develop an understanding of the world around us through play, opportunity, and exploration.