OUR PHILOSOPHY
INSPIRING A LOVE OF LEARNING
At Orchard Early Learning Centre, we offer a fresh approach to early learning. Drawing on the natural environment, we look to inspire children to become discoverers, learners and thinkers – holistically preparing them for a life of learning and wellbeing.
Led by an experienced and warm educational team, we focus on creating playful learning experiences that allow children to engage thoughtfully and inquisitively with the ever-evolving world around them. Our philosophy recognises that learning is a never-ending journey that is nourished by relationships with others and the environment in which we live.
Our philosophy is inspired by leading educational practitioners such as Emmi Pikler and Loris Malaguzzi, as well as current research and theory to inform our pedagogy and practice. It is a living document that reflects the knowledge, beliefs and values of our early childhood educators, children, families, and the wider community.
We believe in stretching the realms of everyday practice and reconceptualising risk through a developmental lens. We advocate for the potential benefits of taking risks for children’s agency, learning and wellbeing as it helps children test their physical limits, develop their perceptual-motor capacity, and learn to avoid and adjust to dangerous environments and activities.
Our curriculum is a collaborative venture, with input from children and families and developed by qualified early childhood educators. We strive for excellence by providing children the opportunity to extend their limits and learn life skills by being empowered and inspired.
We acknowledge the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first inhabitants of the nation and the traditional custodians of the lands where we are grateful to live, learn and work.
COMMITMENT TO CARE
For us, providing quality care has as much to do with the exceptional early learning programs we offer, as with the educators who put them into action.
That’s why we take a considered approach when growing our team to ensure that our educators are not only highly experienced with a strong educational background, but also have a genuine passion for early years education.
Our wish is for every child to experience a sense of wonder, curiosity, competence, confidence and joy each and every day.
COMMITMENT TO CHILDREN
We view every child as a thinker, problem-solver, active learner, researcher, theorist and explorer. We believe that educators and children are collaborators in their learning journey and for a child to develop, they require a holistic and personalised early learning experience.
We use the individual interests of each child as the catalyst to develop an ever changing and challenging early learning program specifically suited to each child to ensure they are able to meet their developmental milestone at their own pace.
COMMITMENT TO THE ENVIRONMENT
We support an inclusive environment that promotes competence, independent exploration and learning through play.
As educators, it is our responsibility to create a space that encourages each child to become an explorer, learner and thinker – having fun whilst engaging thoughtfully and inquisitively with the natural world around them.
We know that children are growing up in an increasingly busy and built-up world, so we surround them with an abundant natural environment, providing them with daily opportunities to watch the seasons change, feel the air on their skin and admire the environment while they explore nature and observe the cycles of growth.
COMMITMENT TO FAMILIES
We believe that transparency and inclusiveness are the key to an authentic, happy and trusting relationship with children and their families.
We know that children learn best when surrounded by a caring and passionate community, so we encourage our families and community to be a part of our centre, to share their skills and ideas to enrich our daily program.
As educators, we understand the enormous amount of trust that families place in us to prepare their child for a life of learning and discovery, so we work hard to create a community that shares and celebrates each child’s experience. We welcome families to spend time at our centres and enjoying the space just as much as their children do.
RESPECT & ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Orchard ELC is committed to embracing diversity.
We welcome all people irrespective of ethnicity, lifestyle choice, faith, sexual orientation, gender and gender identity.
We seek to create a safe space for children, supporting them in their play as they grow lifelong connections to nature, to the land, and to all living things. We aim to empower children through our daily practices; by modelling our language, actions, and energy around the concepts of empathy, community, and consent, together we build lifelong skills that teach us to care for nature, ourselves and each other.
This acknowledgment is an evolving, living, changing acknowledgment of our people, the Land and its Native Keepers. We will revisit this acknowledgment in order to reflect upon our practices and hold ourselves accountable. We will learn from our mistakes and vow to grow from them.