We Treasure Play and Childhood
We Value Families and Diverse Communities
We Treasure Play and Childhood
We celebrate early childhood as a beautiful stage of life. We believe in nurturing and supporting children to fully experience all that it has to offer, without rushing them unnecessarily to the next stage of life. We believe education is a lifelong journey towards wholeness, rather than just an accumulation of facts, figures or skills (Glazer)
We believe play is the best way children learn. We value children’s right to play by offering large amounts of uninterrupted time to engage all their senses. We believe that through everyday moments, real life experiences and activities worthy of their attention, that children will be able to practice new skills and consolidate their learning. We believe children have a right to express their opinion, to be listened to, to be dirty, wet, covered in paint, clay and enthralled in what they have chosen to pursue.
We believe in the social construction of knowledge (Vygotsky) and allow all age groups to spend time with each other.
We believe children can express their ideas through a multitude of ways and each child has their own unique way of communicating these ideas and thoughts (Malaguzzi).
Our Image of Children
We Value Families and Diverse Communities
We Treasure Play and Childhood
We view children in a holistic way. We believe children are capable, competent, curious, imaginative and resourceful. We aim to provide opportunities for unfolding rather than moulding children. We value uniqueness over uniformity. We aim to provide an environment where we can help bring forth each child’s distinctive talents, supporting them in becoming the unique person they were born to be. Because of this image of children; our program is strength based, constantly looking at what the child can do rather than what they cannot.
We believe children need time and repeated exposure to various experiences in order to practice self-regulation, manage risks, negotiate with others, build resilience, develop self-help skills, communicate their feelings, deepen their learning, knowledge and understandings.
We believe strongly in the United Nations Rights of the Child and see ourselves as advocates not only for children in our care but also in the wider community
We Value Families and Diverse Communities
We Value Families and Diverse Communities
We Value Families and Diverse Communities
We believe parents and guardians are children’s first educators and know their child best. We believe in developing and maintaining genuine relationships with children, families and the community. We believe family involvement is integral in creating a high quality preschool. We believe everyone has something to share, no matter how large or small. We believe strongly in open communication, respect and collaboration with families.
We believe that by connecting with our community we begin to embrace similarities and differences within our diverse world. Through this we begin to explore harmony across cultures, languages, religions, beliefs, life styles and genders.
Diversity within our preschool, families, educators and wider community should be respected and celebrated. We believe we play a role in fostering and developing a social conscience among children with a view to addressing social inequality and inclusive practices.
Our Environment Drives What We Do
We Value and Care for The Environment
We Value Families and Diverse Communities
We believe the environment is the third teacher (Malaguzzi) and through a rich, stimulating, nurturing and natural environment we can foster curiosity, imagination, creativity and wonder. We believe beauty is as important as functionality, we teach children to respect the preschool environment and care for it as they would their home, encouraging a strong sense of belonging and instilling a sense of responsibility.
Connection to Our Community
We Value and Care for The Environment
We Value and Care for The Environment
We believe strongly in the role of our preschool within the community. We believe that our children should become familiar with the neighbourhood, extending their belonging and sense of place, rather than see it from a distance. We endeavour to integrate excursions to our local community as much as possible, as well as inviting visitors to our preschool.
We believe as an early childhood service it is our role to help connect children and families to their community and help support their own sense of belonging.
We Value and Care for The Environment
We Value and Care for The Environment
We Value and Care for The Environment
We believe children have a right to be connected to the environment and that children must first love nature before they are able to help look after it (Louve). We believe that children need to be custodians for the environment so that they may make decisions about resources that will have a positive impact for the earth’s future.
We provide opportunities for the children to develop meaningful connections to the natural world, encouraging them to be in relationship with it, to receive from it and to give back. Sustainability is embedded in everything we do and is discussed with children on a daily basis.
We Value Well-Being and Sense of Security
We Value Well-Being and Sense of Security
We Value Well-Being and Sense of Security
We believe wellbeing is vitally important and we actively advocate for a holistic approach. We believe in nourishing food and drinks that will help develop children’s bodies and minds to explore all that it can do.
We believe everyone needs time to switch off from the world and learn to rest one’s mind and body. We believe all children need time to do this in our fast paced society and we help do so by participating in relaxation, yoga, meditation and visualisation.
We believe that through our relationship with children we are able to notice each child’s needs for security and offer them reassurance in a respectful way such as listening, hugs, positive body language, space and understanding.
As Educators We Never Stop Learning
We Value Well-Being and Sense of Security
We Value Well-Being and Sense of Security
At Bright Start we see children, families and educators as a community of learning, co-exploring, provoking, problem solving and reflecting.
Our team of early childhood professionals are continually collaborating, supporting and challenging each other. We aim to cultivate big ideas and never be too old to wonder alongside children.
We actively participate in professional inquiry and critically reflect on all aspects of our pedagogy. We aim to be innovative and strive to be a centre of excellence for early childhood within our community.
We believe relationships are the foundation of learning and prioritise our time to be available for children and families. We respect children’s rights to discover for them self and step back when needed. We believe communication should be open, while maintaining confidentiality.
We believe in the importance of documenting each child’s learning. We actively promote opportunities for the child to express their thoughts and make connections in their learning..