Rational including the philosophy and developmental theory adopted by the nursery when choosing a particular, which includes child Development Domain.
Early Years Foundation Stage or EYFS is a learning curriculum that Gardenia Nursery follows. It provides to help support children’s learning and development from birth to four years old.
EYFS sets at all early years providers must do to make sure that children learn and develop. It promotes teaching and learning to make sure all children have the skills to get them ready to progress through school and future life.
Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfill their potential. Children develop quickly in the early years and a child’s experiences between birth and age four have a major impact on their future life chances. A secure, safe and happy childhood is important in its own right. Good parenting and high quality early learning together provide the foundation children need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up. Early Years providers must make sure that their staff are fully aware of what they have to do, to make sure your child’s individual needs are met through the EYFS.
Gardenia Nursery implements the fundamental principles of learning approach by Reggio Emilon. A theory based on the principle of respect, responsibility and community through exploration and discovery in a supportive and enriching environment based on the interests of the children through a self-guided curriculum.
Children must have some control over the direction of their learning. Children must be able to learn through experiences of touching, moving, listening, seeing and hearing. Children have a relationship with other children and with materials items in the world that children must have endless ways and opportunities to express themselves.
The Principles underpin practice that is focused on assisting all children to makeprogress in relation to the Learning Outcomes.
Educators who are attuned to children’s thoughts and feelings, support the development of a strong sense of wellbeing. They positively interact with the young child in their learning.
Research has shown that babies are both vulnerable and competent. Babies’ first attachments within their families and within other trusting relationships provide them with a secure base for exploration and learning.
Through a widening network of secure relationships, children develop confidence and feel respected and valued. They become increasingly able to recognize and respect the feelings of others and to interact positively with them.
Educators who give priority to nurturing relationships and providing children with consistent emotional support can assist children to develop the skills and understandings they need to interact positively with others. They also help children to learn about their responsibilities to others, to appreciate their connectedness and interdependence as learners, and to value collaboration and teamwork.
Learning outcomes are most likely to be achieved when early childhood educators work in partnership with families. Educators recognize that families are children’s first and most influential teachers. They create a welcoming environment where all children and families are respected and actively encouraged to collaborate with educators about curriculum decisions in order to ensure that learning experiences are meaningful.
Partnerships are based on the foundations of understanding each other’s expectations and attitudes, and build on the strength of each others’ knowledge.
In genuine partnerships, families and early childhood educators:
Partnerships also involve educators, families and support professionals working together to explore the learning potential in every day events, routines and play so that children with additional needs are provided with daily opportunities to learn from active participation and engagement in these experiences in the home and in early childhood or specialist settings.
Early childhood educators who are committed to equity believe in all children’s capacities to succeed, regardless of diverse circumstances and abilities. Children progress well when they, their parents and educators hold high expectations for their achievement in learning. Educators recognize and respond to barriers to children achieving educational success. In response they challenge practices that contribute to inequities and make curriculum decisions that promote inclusion and participation of all children.
By developing their professional knowledge and skills, and working in partnership with children, families, communities, other services and agencies, they continually strive to find equitable and effective ways to ensure that all children have opportunities to achieve learning outcomes.
There are many ways of living, being and of knowing. Children are born belonging to a culture, which is not only influenced by traditional practices, heritage and ancestral knowledge, but also by the experiences, values and beliefs of individual families and communities. Respecting diversity means within the curriculum valuing and reflecting the practices, values and beliefs of families. Educators honor the histories, cultures, languages, traditions, child rearing practices and lifestyle choices of families. They value children’s different capacities and abilities and respect differences in families’ home lives. Educators recognize that diversity contributes to the richness of our society and provides a valid evidence base about ways of knowing.
For Australia it also includes promoting greater understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing and being. When early childhood educators respect the diversity of families and communities, and the aspirations they hold for children, they are able to foster children’s motivation to learn and reinforce their sense of themselves as competent learners. They make curriculum decisions that uphold all children’s rights to have their cultures, identities, abilities and strengths acknowledged and valued, and respond to the complexity of children’s and families’ lives. Educators think critically about opportunities and dilemmas that can arise from diversity and take action to redress unfairness. They provide opportunities to learn about similarities and difference and about interdependence and how we can learn to live together.
Educators continually seek ways to build their professional knowledge and develop learning communities. They become co-learners with children, families and community, and value the continuity and richness of local knowledge shared by community members, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders. Reflective practice is a form of ongoing learning that involves engaging with questions of philosophy, ethics and practice. Its intention is to gather information and gain insights that support, inform and enrich decision-making about children’s learning. As professionals, early childhood educators examine what happens in their settings and reflect on what they might change. Critical reflection involves closely examining all aspects of events and experiences from different perspectives. Educators often frame their reflective practice within a set of overarching questions, developing more specific questions for particular areas of enquiry.
Four guiding principles should shape practice in early years settings. These are:
A child who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured. Babies and young children mature in every area of development at their own pace and in their own individual ways. Inclusion means that individuals and communities are valued and no child or family is discriminated against. Young children are vulnerable but they are kept safe and develop resilience when their wellbeing is protected by adults. Health and well-being is an integral part of children’s emotional, mental social, environmental and spiritual health.
Children’s learning is helped when they feel safe and secure and when their parents and the people in settings they attend work together to ensure that the child’s needs are met. A key person such as in our nursery provides a reassuring link with home so that children can cope with being separated from the special people in their lives. Attachments are the emotional bonds that are made between young children, their parents and nursery such as the Key Person. All of these important people have a special role to play in providing the right kind of environment for children where they will flourish. Environments are not just physical spaces because they are the atmosphere created through warm and caring relationships, where children are respected and valued and their well-being comes before anything else. In these environments children’s voices are listened to and they thrive socially and emotionally.
The environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning. Enabling environments encourage babies and young children to play because they feel relaxed, comfortable and ‘at home’ in them. When children feel emotionally safe and secure they are able to explore and find out about the place they are in and the things they can see, touch, maneuver or manipulate.
Rich environments indoors have an immediate effect on the quality of children’s learning and development. It’s comfortable, interesting, attractive and appropriate for the child or children who use it. For some children it becomes like a second home where they eat and sometimes sleep. Environments should be attractive and make children feel safe and secure and happy to be there and they should also be places where children can confidently play and learn. Indoor spaces that we have in the nursery needs careful planning as it needs to be flexible to accommodate children’s changing interests and needs. Resources should be of the highest quality. Our books are attractive and well maintained and reflect children’s fascinations. Resources such as blocks for building with, felt pens, chalks or pencils for mark-making, clothes for dressing up in and small items such as cars, dolls and jigsaws should be accessible by children themselves.