Through our social and physical environment, we welcome and include all, and seek to create a sense of belonging in our centre community.
We celebrate the diversity and multicultural nature of the community in which we live and acknowledge the original custodians of this land, the Wallumedegal clan of the Darug nation, on whose land we now stand, and we pay our respects to the Elders past, present, and emerging.
Our staff team reflects a diversity of education, training, and life experience, as well as a range of multicultural backgrounds and languages. This supports children as they settle and build relationships, feeling a sense of belonging. Our families also reflect a range of multicultural backgrounds and languages. This diversity enriches the life of our service and we strive to reflect this diversity throughout the centre, as well as in our programming and daily experiences we provide for the children.
We recognise that partnerships with families provide us with invaluable information and that these partnerships are central to ensuring continuity and progression of learning and development for their children. Our partnerships with families are based on cooperation, support, and mutual respect for the roles we each play in the lives of their children. We develop and nurture these relationships through daily conversations and the sharing of information, ideas, knowledge, and strengths - using a variety of communication strategies and mediums. We encourage all families to participate within the centre according to their individual needs, interests, and availability. By having a parent committee, families are strongly involved in the running of our centre. We believe that the structure of our centre is part of what makes our centre so successful.
We provide safe, caring, and inclusive indoor and outdoor environments for children that:
- ensures each child feels a sense of belonging
- recognises their unique individuality
- stimulates, challenges, and encourages children's holistic development
- engenders a life-long love of learning
- facilitates their cooperation and active involvement, and;
- fosters their independence, resilience, and self-confidence.
We believe that childhood should be filled with fun, happiness and laughter. Our educational approach is one of play based learning, in which children can spend time playing and developing learning dispositions including: exploration, imagination, experimentation, curiosity, and risk-taking. We encourage children to engage in their natural environment, learning about respect, sustainability, and the benefits of a connectedness with nature. By allowing children time to take pleasure in the present moment, we support and encourage children's sense of being. The Early Years Learning Framework supports play based learning and guides our program and our decision making, and underpins our daily practices.
Through a range of learning experiences, positive interactions with educators and peers, and a wide variety of opportunities and materials we are creating and facilitating a meaningful educational program where children are encouraged to develop at their own pace, build on their interests, grow in social competence and independence, and become active participants in their own learning. To enable children to become initiators of their own learning, the educators at Nought to Five create a supportive and inspirational environment. To achieve this, we employ staff who possess a passion for working in early childhood care and education.
We pride ourselves on supporting all children and providing a space that values equity and inclusion. The diverse needs of individuals are catered for within the program to ensure all children have the opportunity to maximise their potential and develop a foundation for future success in learning. We believe children are successful, competent and capable learners.
Interactions with children are warm and respectful, and educators acknowledge the rights of the child. We are committed to providing staffing ratios that exceed government regulations, to ensure personalised interactions with families and children.
We recognise the importance of professional teamwork, where staff feel valued and each individual is respected for the contribution they make to the team and the centre. We draw upon each individual person’s knowledge, experience, and talents - encouraging a lively culture of professional enquiry, continual improvement within the National Quality Framework, and supporting their participation in
ongoing professional development.