Educational Program

At Karimbla Early Learning Centre we believe in children learning through play. Play provides opportunities for children to expand their knowledge as they discover, create, improvise and imagine. When children play with others they create social groups and form relationships and attachments. They test out ideas, challenge each other’s thinking and build new understandings. Play provides a supportive environment where children can ask questions, solve problems and engage in critical thinking. They are able to expand their knowledge and enhance their desire to learn. In these ways play can promote positive dispositions towards learning.

Early childhood educators take on many roles in play with children and use a range of strategies to support learning, they engage in sustained shared conversations with children to extend their thinking and provide a balance between child led, child initiated and educator supported learning.

The Early Years Learning Framework

At Karimbla Early Learning Centre our program has been designed to reflect The Early Years Learning Framework. The EYLF describes the principles, practices and outcomes that support and enhance young children's learning from birth to five years of age, as well as their transition to school. The Early Years Learning Framework allows us to develop a meaningful curriculum that involves interactive decision making by children, parents and families, educators and the broader community with the aim of fostering children’s learning.

The Framework forms the foundation for ensuring that children in all early childhood education and care settings experience quality teaching and learning. It has a specific emphasis on play-based learning and recognises the importance of communication and language (including early literacy and numeracy) and social and emotional development.

Intentional Teaching is deliberate, purposeful and thoughtful. Educators engage in intentional teaching and recognise that learning occurs in social contexts and interactions and conversations are vitally important for learning. Educators actively promote children’s learning through worthwhile and challenging experiences and interactions that foster high- level thinking skills. Strategies used by educators include modelling and demonstrating, open ended questioning, speculating, explaining, engaging in shared thinking and problem solving to extend children’s thinking and learning.

Educators move flexibly in and out of different roles and draw on different strategies as the contexts change. They plan opportunities for intentional teaching and knowledge building as well as document and monitor children’s learning.