At Bay Explorers Early Learning Kindergarten, we deliver a unique program focusing on excellence in education. In doing this we are ensuring our children are heading off to Prep with all of the skills required to be fully prepared to succeed on every level.
We aim to maximise our children’s learning experiences by incorporating the Queensland Kindergarten Guidelines, the current AEDI data for our catchment and the Early Years Learning Framework into a seamless and engaging learning environment.
While the Early Years Learning Framework focuses on children from birth to five years, the Queensland Kindergarten Guidelines are unique in that they aim to specifically enrich children's learning in the kindergarten year. In Queensland, the kindergarten year is the year before the preparatory year of schooling. Throughout this very important year, our children's right to experience the joy of childhood is fundamental and learning is promoted through play, and emergent and planned learning experiences and interactions.
At Bay Explorers Early Learning, our program aims to familiarise your child with the key learning areas they will face in their first year of school, whilst building resilience. These learning areas include numeracy and literacy, science, art, social emotional learning, music/drama and health and wellbeing (sports, movement). Play will always remain the main focus of our Kindergarten timetable, as we continue to support, develop and extend your child's individualism, interests, ideas and creativity.
We respect that parents are fundamentally their child's first educator and we embrace the vital role you play in your child's life and their ongoing learning journey. We therefore aim to provide many opportunities for you to join your child in the classroom and encourage you to take part in various invitational activities throughout the year. Our Early Childhood Teacher is always available to speak with you on an informal basis upon dropping off or collecting your child, to discuss with you any concerns, ideas or comments you may have.
Our Kindergarten room is the reflection of all the learning the children have accomplished throughout the previous 4-5 years. Our Teacher liaises with all Educators in our service to ensure that Kindy readiness is incorporated into all of our programming and planning, in age (and ability) appropriate ways.
Children are gaining a mass of individuality, direction, communication skills and independence as to how they would like their day to be. For this reason we are able to focus on each child's strengths, interests and needs to create each day with a flexible daily routine yet one where the children are offered a range of opportunities to involve themselves in activities based on learning areas such as science, mathematics, pre-reading, pre-writing, social and emotional, fine motor and gross motor skills.
Although these abilities are our focus throughout all age groups at Bay Explorers, we are able to enhance these skills more readily within this age group in readiness for school. Bay Explorers administers the Queensland Kindergarten Program, employing a Degree qualified Early Childhood Teacher to lead this class.
The children share in the leadership of this class, telling us exactly as it is and really coming to understand the depth of human emotion. Social and emotional learning is a continued facet of importance with this age as we strive to create a supportive team environment where the children feel confident to discuss issues with their friends independently, as well as feeling comfortable just being who they are.
We aim for each child to progress into the school environment with excellence and ease!
Our Kindergarten Teacher will complete a 'Transition Statement' for each child, which will be sent to your child's prep teacher to ensure that there is a high quality of continuity of learning and your child is supported in their learning environment.
Our largest outdoor playscape is ready for all the energy, exploration and experimentation our Junior Kindy, Senior Kindy and Kindergarten children can possibly muster. A dedicated Sports Court offers our potential Test Cricketers, Firebirds and Socceroos the space they need to hone their ball handling techniques and team player skills.
We recognise that as children grow they love improving their gross motor skills, particularly when it comes to bikes, scooters and carts and all these can be thoroughly enjoyed on the largest of our custom-designed bike paths. As the children have fun in this play area they are constantly enhancing their social and emotional skills as they learn the basics of considerately giving way, helping others and the simple joy of mastering steering and pedalling.
The children gain an intimate understanding of sustainability and nutrition, as they interact with our veggie gardens and worm farm and eagerly observe our fruit trees as they grow in this large, landscaped play space. Children explore our rainforest through a sequence of bridges and boardwalks, enjoying natural shade, and bird and insect life. The massive sandpit is a constant source of fun and experimentation.
The children become aware of caring for others and taking responsibility as they help to look after our many pets at Bay Explorers including guinea pigs, fish and birds.
Lastly, our custom-designed fort has been engineered to the highest standards to give the children a constantly engaging area to climb, slide, navigate and play hide and seek in, and even to simply observe all the action from the highest point in the play scape. There is a rock climbing wall, boulder climb, bridges and three ready-made cubby houses ready for daily transformation into shops, restaurants, classrooms or whatever intriguing idea the children wish to explore.
The children master so many life skills interacting with each other and our Educators in a playscape that sets the highest possible benchmark for quality in child care.
