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.
At Alfred Child Care Centre, we implement the Australian-approved curriculum, the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (VEYLDF). Play-based learning is the foundation of our curriculum and revolves around the children’s interests and educators’ close observations and assessment of their development. Play is interwoven with intentional teaching and provides a context for learning. Our educators work in genuine partnership with children to actively promote learning through challenging experiences and interactions that foster high-level thinking skills.
Our curriculum is inclusive of all children. We recognise that children bring their diverse experiences, perspectives, expectations, knowledge and skills to the centre. We value and build on children’s strengths, interests, abilities and cultural traditions, while using strategies such as modelling, asking open ended questions, speculating, explaining and engaging in shared thinking and problem solving, to extend the children’s learning and thinking.
We aim to establish immediate rapport and a sense of belonging in our community, as families arrive through the front door.
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.
We Focus On
In addition to the high quality well-rounded programs we offer, all KU centres are also encouraged to develop an area of focus.
At Alfred Child Care Centre, we focus on Collaborative Partnerships with Families and the Community.
We incorporate our focus on parent participation through parent story times, afternoon teas, celebrating unique festivals, support gardening, the creative arts and excursions. We believe strong partnerships with families support children to develop trust and confidence within the learning environment, enabling the children to develop and grow.
Our kindergarten program is rich in the creative arts, as we believe that this supports children’s early literacy and offers children a medium of expression to voice their understanding of the world around them. Our pen pal program with a preschool in New Zealand and an orphanage in Nepal supports the children to develop an understanding of children from diverse backgrounds and life experiences.
We feel that the children benefit from this focus, because it enhances their awareness of different cultures and enables them to develop positive relationships.
Our Quality
Our centre has been independently assessed by the Department of Education Training Victoria under the National Quality Standard, and are proud to be rated as 'Meeting' the National Quality Standard.
However what matters most is what our families think...
“Thank you for the care and nurture over many years and for the wonderful memories. Our children are the happy, curious and confident children they are thanks to the considerable time they spent at the centre.” - Alfred Child Care Centre Parent
“The centre provides a caring, loving and safe surrounding while nurturing my children and providing an environment that has enhanced their development, allowing them to explore and learn through play.” - Alfred Child Care Centre 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.
Our environment is a caring space, that is safe, stimulating and rich in natural resources, which creates a homely and welcoming atmosphere. Our environment gives children opportunities to explore, investigate, enquire and problem-solve. It is a space that encourages and engages children to create social groups, test out ideas, challenge each other’s thinking and build new understanding.
Our playground is our outdoor learning environment and includes natural elements such as sand, water, leaves and twigs and kitchen gardens. Wherever possible we avoid using lots of fixed, plastic equipment in our playground. Instead we provide an ever-changing array of challenging and interesting activities and equipment, explored by children and educators together. These activities help with the development of children’s gross motor skills, enhancing their overall health and wellbeing as they discover their strengths and abilities and feel inspired to create, imagine and play.
Our Reconciliation Action Plan
KU was proud to launch its inaugural Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) in 2016. At Alfred Child Care Centre, we began our journey to develop our centre’s RAP in 2018 and were proud to launch it in 2019. Please view it here.
Our Awards
In 2020, Maria Lobos Matta of Alfred Child Care Centre was awarded the 'Making the KU Difference for Communities' Award.
The 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.
