Our Program and Approach
At our centre, childhood is celebrated. When they play and explore, children's imagination and curiosity is sparked – they enjoy learning, and are inspired to continue learning more.
Our play-based program intentionally provides opportunities and activities based upon the Early Years Learning Framework, for your child to discover and pursue their own interests and strengths. We encourage children to laugh, think, question and learn. Their sense of self and confidence grows as they make connections with each other and build warm, trusting relationships with our team.
At KU Chatswood Community Preschool, we are proud of our reputation within the local community of providing rich education and care that concentrates on individual children in a family-focused and supportive way.
Our program offers children the opportunity to engage in a wide variety of learning experiences and activities, including gardening, fine arts and collage, music, movement and drama, physical play, block building and construction, sand and water exploration, science experiments, cooking experiences, cultural celebrations, early numeracy activities such as counting and measurement, and early literacy activities such as stories, drawing and writing. These are specifically designed to incorporate choice for children and promote confidence so they see themselves as capable and active participants in their own learning.
Our high quality programs are based on current research and are planned intentionally and spontaneously in our indoor and outdoor learning environments.
We greatly value the strong relationships between our staff, children and families, and we look forward to the opportunity of including your family in the life of our Centre.
Our Special Interest
In addition to the high quality well-rounded programs we offer, all KU centres are also encouraged to develop an area of special interest.
At KU Chatswood Community Preschool, our special interest is literacy learning.
We encourage literacy learning in many ways and incorporate a range of modes of communication including music, movement, dance, storytelling, visual arts, technology and dramatic play. Also included are conversations, listening, reading stories and writing in small learning groups. We also incorporate technology into the environment as a learning tool.
We strive to develop children’s literacy and feel that children benefit from this special interest, because it is key to educational learning, as it encompasses the foundations for reading, writing, spelling, maths, science and communication.
Our Quality
Our centre has been independently assessed by the Department of Education NSW under the National Quality Standards, and are proud to be rated as Meeting the National Quality Standard.
However what matters most is what our families think...
"KU Chatswood Community Preschool is a welcoming and well equipped facility with both indoor and outdoor spaces. The educators and staff deliver an enriching and enjoyable learning environment for children of all backgrounds and abilities. I'm pleased to have had all three of my children attend." – KU Chatswood Community Preschool parent
“My family have been fortunate to have spent almost three years at KU Chatswood Community Preschool. My daughter is 10 years old now and she still keeps in touch with a lot of friends she made at the preschool. I believe a strong partnership between parents and preschool is important to our children’s development. At KU Chatswood Community Preschool, all the educators look at each child as an individual, with their own strengths and needs, especially the director, Kathy, who spent lots of time developing a plan for my son and helped me with any issues that came about. My son has learnt many exciting skills to help in his future life, through their play based program and small group work. Our overall experience at KU Chatswood has been a pleasant experience! Thank you so much KU Chatswood Community Preschool!” – KU Chatswood Community Preschool parent
Our Environment
Each KU Centre is unique. The best outcomes for children are created within relationships and interactions between children and staff, and children and their families, not within four walls. We work hard to create beautiful, interesting, homelike learning environments for children – whatever our setting.
KU Chatswood Community Preschool is a purpose built Preschool catering for 40 children located in Chatswood, on Sydney’s North Shore. We are situated in close proximity to Chatswood CBD and Chatswood train station.
Our playground is designed to allow children to explore nature, experience sustainable practices and discover the natural environment. We want children to be able to play in our mud kitchen, climb ladders on trees, grow produce, recycle, discover and learn about insects and enjoy connecting with nature. The many activities we offer enable children to immerse themselves in the natural elements of their surroundings and feel inspired to learn, create, imagine and play.
Our Awards
In 2018, Kathy Hatcher, Director at KU Chatswood Community Preschool, was among 12 teachers across Australia who received the prestigious ASG National Excellence in Teaching Award (NEiTA), recognising her inspiring and innovative contribution to teaching.
The team was also recognised as a finalist at the 2018 HESTA Early Childhood Education and Care Awards in the ‘Building Inclusion’ category.
In 2019, KU Chatswood Community Preschool won a SPROuts Award given by the NSW Early Childhood Environmental Education Network, recognising the preschool's commitment to learning for sustainability. The preschool followed this win with 3rd place in 2020 and 2nd place in 2021.
Making the KU Difference Awards
The Annual Making the KU Difference Awards were introduced a number of years ago, as a way of acknowledging KU staff who have made a significant contribution to KU. These annual awards are open to all KU staff, at any level (either individual staff or a team), who have worked above and beyond their normal duties.
- In 2012, Kathy Hatcher, Director at KU Chatswood Community Preschool, was awarded the Making the KU Difference Award for Staff.
- In 2015, the KU Chatswood Community Preschool Team was awarded the perpetual KU Marcia Burgess Award for demonstrating an outstanding commitment to fostering inclusion and enriching the lives of vulnerable children and their families.
- In 2017, Kate O’Brien from KU Chatswood Community Preschool was awarded the Making the KU Difference Award through Reconciliation.
- In 2018, the KU Chatswood Community Preschool Team was awarded the Making the KU Difference Award through Innovation.
Our Reconciliation Action Plan
KU was proud to launch its inaugural Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) in 2016. At KU Chatswood Community Preschool, we began our journey to develop our centre’s RAP in 2017 and we are proud to launch it now. Please view it here.
