ST ANDREW'S KINDERGARTEN
OUR VISION
At St. Andrew’s Kindergarten, we view all children as active participants in their world. Each child brings knowledge and experience to this learning environment. We believe building strong and reciprocal relationships with every child and family is the basis of creating an open learning environment where all children feel able to be themselves and develop to their full potential.
Our philosophy links to our principals and practice, our aim is to ensure every child develops an intrinsic value in learning as a lifelong experience.
All children have strengths and interests that drive their learning. As experienced educators, in a play-based learning preschool, it is our task to use these strengths and interests to engage children in the learning environment and then introduce new stimulus and information to expand their interests, skills and confidence.
We have small and large group times which allow the educators to extend all children using discussion, music & movement, visuals, drama, group games, social skills, cooking, gardening, numeracy & literacy throughout the year.
Preschool children are always listening and wondering, trying to figure out how their world works. It is the ideal time to use this curiosity to develop dispositions for future learning.
We encourage children to be creative learners and show pride in their new skills, new knowledge and new understandings that they develop while at St. Andrew’s Kindergarten and take these learning dispositions to the next learning environment with confidence.
We welcome you to come and view our service Mon – Thurs between 10 am – 12 noon.
SUSTAINABILITY
At St Andrew’s Kindergarten, we are passionate about education for sustainability. We believe our outdoor classroom is an essential teaching resource.
In our outdoor environment, we have a native Indigenous garden, vegetable gardens, worm farms, compost bins, a native Australian stingless beehive.
Children are actively involved in sustainable practices, developing an appreciation of the importance of caring for the environment.
STAFF
At St Andrew’s Kindergarten, we have responsive, creative Educators who enable our program to be rich and diverse.
Currently, we have 4 Early Childhood Teachers; 3 Diplomas and 3 Certificate III.
All the Educators at St Andrew’s are encouraged to use their individual strengths and interests to develop a program that caters for all children’s abilities and interests, to foster curiosity and enthusiasm for learning in a play-based environment.
INCURSIONS & EXCURSIONS
At St Andrew’s Kindergarten, we believe incursions/excursions enable children to get hands-on experience which links to our program, extending learning opportunities for all children.
Our incursion/excursion experiences comprise of Aunty Wendy; Centennial Park; Kym Beckton – Wildlife; Taronga Park Zoomobile; Rangers on the Run; Kindifarm – Mobile Animal Farm; Henny Penny Hatching Chickens; Swag Full of Instruments; Young Scientists and many more.
TESTIMONIALS
We had previously had Sienna (4 years old) at a long Day Care and found that she wasn’t thriving and enjoying the Day care as much as we were anticipating, so decided to try St Andrews after some recommendations from friends.
The amount of care that the staff of St Andrews have for the children and the focus on education is something we have not seen before.
Sienna loves attending and there is a calmness and enjoyment every time we pick her up and drop her off at the centre.
Kris and her team take a lot of care in organising their sessions and incursions. Even though the days are only 9am-3pm, we are finding that Sienna is developing really quickly and it is wonderful to watch.
St Andrews is definitely a Kindergarten that I would recommend.
We have two young boys. Both of our boys have had the privilege of attending St Andrews over the past 4 years. We have been thrilled with the wonderful care and early education provided so thoughtfully for our boys. We feel our preschool journey has been all the richer having passed this way. We are truly grateful.
My daughter has been attending St Andrew’s for almost 2 years. Lovely and friendly staff who are attentive to my daughter’s needs and an excellent program that is dynamic and current. Great indoor activities that allow Sadie to express herself creatively ( her favourite is the play dough table !) and a fabulous outdoor play area. Sadie loves her preschool!
Since my daughter started at St. Andrews we instantly saw changes in her physical development: (her fine motor skills) she could write her own name within the first week! The atmosphere and leaning environment is optimal for all young children with all receiving individual attention. The staff are very friendly and Laila loves going to preschool to play with her friends!
