At UWA Early Learning Centre we believe in play- based learning, as children learn most effectively when they actively engage in their surrounding environment and are having fun. Therefore, we value and support a program which facilitates meaningful and stimulating experiences where children can thrive, make their own decisions, use their imagination and enhance their interests.
Our Curriculum is inspired and guided by the unique interests, strengths & actions of all children, as well as by the spontaneous and serendipitous events that occur every day. Out of this arise the foundations for play and learning experiences that stimulate and support children through their own learning journeys. Educators engage in an ongoing process of observing, analysing, planning and reflection to foster each child’s learning and development. We believe that by providing children with freedom of choice and offering a wide variety of opportunities, resources and interactions, we are creating and facilitating a developmentally appropriate curriculum where children will be encouraged to develop at their own pace.
How the
curriculum works
Our Curriculum is child-focused and built around children’s individual and group interests.
The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (EYLF), ‘Belonging, Being & Becoming’, forms the basis of our Curriculum.
We begin by developing a relationship with each child, and with the group as a whole. By knowing the children well – their likes and dislikes, their strengths and interests, their temperament and personality, their culture, their unique development, their own learning style – we are able to program for them both individually and as a group. Being ‘in tune’ with the children in our care, carrying out both formal and informal observations, and communicating with parents, all combine to help staff develop a program for individual children as well as for the group. Whether lasting a minute, an hour, a day or a week, many events, experiences, learning areas and environments will enhance learning for each child.
Storypark online is an early childhood education programming, documentation and communication system we are using here at UWA Early Learning Centre. Our families receive a fortnightly curriculum plan, fortnightly reflections and a daily “story”, all which links to the EYLF. The story is a formal, retrospective program as well as an overall reflection of the day or two days combined. This contains a variety of detail from ongoing learning to spontaneous learning experiences, the main high lights from the day/days are shared with our families. The Reflections, opportunities and possibilities links with the learning experiences that have occurred throughout the week and is linked to the curriculum--‐and the EYLF.
It is important for Educators to evaluate the program in a continual cycle of self--‐reflection and improvement. We may plan to re--‐visit experiences that the children enjoyed; we may plan to repeat experiences in the future that the children weren’t quite ready to explore. We may modify learning areas, extending on the children’s interests. Parent input into and evaluation of our program is always welcomed and is an important part of the process of planning and continual improvement. The “story” is accessible to all families at any time through logging into their Storypark account.
Each child’s online portfolio aims to be a snapshot of each child’s learning journey at UWA Early Learning Centre. Each portfolio will include a variety of learning journeys, an individual cycle of planning, an ongoing developmental milestone assessment and photographs.
The ongoing developmental assessment for the families is to show their child’s learning and development towards the Learning Outcomes and more. This is a document that educators continue to add to throughout the year as the children achieve an outcome – this document is used throughout their journey over the years as they move up in age groups.
These are the different methods of documentation that educators’ use at the Centre:
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Parent & family input
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Daily story
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Fortnightly curriculum plan
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Individual cycle of planning
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Fortnightly reflections
Learning journeys – individual and group
- Photographs
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Transcripts of conversations/child notes
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Ongoing developmental milestone assessment
