Our Philosophy & Values

Our Children

All children are seen as capable, confident and competent learners of their environment. We believe that children have the right to be active participants when engaging in their own independent learning. A child’s opinion must be valued for its validity to their perspective and their autonomy and initiative needs to be respected.  We as educators will protect and cherish the innocence of children and thus provide a safe and secure environment.  As we unpack the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) we will work alongside your child to actively promote children’s learning through worthwhile and challenging experiences and interactions that foster high-level thinking skills. Our relationship with Inclusion Support agencies plays a large role in suggesting and implementing strategies to cater to children with additional needs, providing them with opportunities to learn from active engagement in every experience. At Next Chapter EL we understand each child has unique qualities and abilities and we respect each child’s individuality. We appreciate that children move through different stages of development at different points in time and we endeavour to cater to their needs accordingly. We integrate theories such as The Circle of Security, Bronfenbrenner and Vygotsky into our relationships with children and families. We believe play is valuable in every aspect of a child’s development and recognise the importance of children being actively involved and engaged in a variety of learning experiences. We believe a child’s learning should be supported and encouraged through positive interactions and discussions with the child’s family on a regular basis.

Our Families

We acknowledge that family is the most important and influential aspect in the lives of young children and the significance of their relationships cannot be underestimated. We aim to ensure we involve parents and families into all aspects of the programs development and implementation.  Through our open-door policy, we endeavor to welcome our families to be involved in our service events and celebrations. We understand the importance of informing families about their child’s wellbeing, progress and learning achievements. Our educators believe in collaborative learning and believe that learning outcomes are best achieved through partnerships. We are committed to building a strong and genuine relationship with families which leads to better exploration of learning potentials in everyday events. We trust that working in partnerships with families is central to ensuring continuity and progression in a child’s learning, development and future success.   At Next Chapter EL we value feedback about our service and will act accordingly on feedback provided.

Our Educators

For the Educators at Next Chapter EL, teamwork and effective communication are essential requirements for positive outcomes across all aspects of the Services’ functioning, for ‘together everyone achieves more”. Our educators value the importance of play and believe that all children have the right to be active participants in all matters affecting their learning and lives. The Educators strive to assist the children in developing the knowledge and skills to become successful innovators. We value diversity and recognise the importance of guiding children to be effective and participating members of a democracy. We aim to create an environment of trust and respect, where we work towards achieving a shared goal. As educators, we believe that we too are learning within our current context. With this, we are constantly developing and building our professional knowledge through education and training in which we work together to evaluate and assess our practices in order to identify key factors that need further improvement or adds value to our environment. Additional we appreciate the experience, skills and dedication of all Educators/Staff, as an integral element of the success of our Service.

Our Educational Program and Practice

At Next Chapter Early Learning the curriculum is not the focus, the children are. The children’s development and learning are outlined and modelled by the principles, practices and outcomes ‘Being, Belonging and Becoming’- The Early Years Learning Framework. The curriculum reflects children becoming active participants and collaborators, allowing for a more individualistic and meaningful involvement by the children. We believe children are unique individuals who develop at their own rate, and thus by providing enriching, meaningful and realistic opportunities children will explore, create, discover and imagine. 

Our program and practice incorporate Next Chapter in all aspects, thereby enhancing our learning experiences and education delivery. Our programs are developed and extended using planned and spontaneous experiences designed to support children’s interests and development in all domains. At Next Chapter EL we understand that children bring with them a deep curiosity and potential. This innate curiosity drives their interest and to understand their world around them and their place within it. We believe that children’s learning is dynamic, complex and holistic. We consistently review our programs and implement new ideas based on past experiences and outcomes to establish a lively culture of professional inquiry and continually grow our team’s professional knowledge.

Our Community and Diversity

Next Chapter EL strive to be seen as a service of excellence within our society, a service which values community involvement in all aspects of our program. We are committed to giving back and valuing our relationships with our local community. We acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional custodians of this country and respect their connection to the land, water and community in which we operate. We pay our respect to them, their cultures and customs both past and present. We respectfully teach about Mother earth from the Indigenous perspective to gift children the skills to prepare to give back to society through sustaining a healthy climate and atmosphere throughout the generations, this is done through learning across different environments and instilling a sense of wonder. We have connected with our local schools to assist with the smooth transition from our school readiness program into primary school. We believe in the importance of connecting with external agencies and professionals to meet the needs of the children and their families. At Next Chapter EL we strive to reflect, value and respect the diversity of the community. We believe that the community and cultural diversity are integral aspects of our centre. We value our community input and participation. We also believe in the important utilisation of community resources to support our children, families and educators.  Through acceptance, we can acknowledge and appreciate the diversity of our country and celebrate this in our centre curriculum. We respect, share and celebrate traditions and cultures that are present throughout the world around us, and integrate these into our curriculum and learning environment. Through this, we can enrich the children’s lives by allowing them to engage and understand different cultures and identities of children around the world.

Our Environment

At Next Chapter Early Learning, we believe that the environment is the third teacher. Through our intentional design and planning, we aim to provide an environment in which children can explore, play and learn through many of the indoor and outdoor spaces.  Learning environments are welcoming spaces when they reflect and enrich the lives and identities of children and families participating in the setting and respond to their interests and needs. Our Service will cater for different capacities and learning styles and invite children and families to contribute ideas, interests and questions (EYLF).

Our philosophy has been developed in conjunction with our family values, mission in creating a supportive and loving community, diversity and learning environments. We draw on the wider community to inspire the learning programs and curriculums. We believe that children learn best when they are actively involved, interested and engaged in the experiences we provide. We are committed to providing high quality education and care for each individual child and their family.

References

• Belonging, Being and Becoming- The Early Years Learning Framework

• United Nations Convention on the rights of the child

• Department of Education

• ACECQA

• Guide to the National Quality Framework

• Early Childhood Australia’s Code of Ethics

• eLearning modules for approved providers – Service Vision and Service Philosophy

• Staff Input

• Parent input

• Quality Improvement Plan