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 KU Bel Air, we aim to provide an inclusive, safe, stimulating and caring environment for children. Our environments serve as a special place for children to be children and enjoy their childhood through curiosity, exploration, creativity and imagination.
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 believe that children are confident, competent, and resourceful learners who are capable of constructing their own knowledge of the world around them.
At KU Bel Air, we are proud of our reputation within the local community of providing rich education and care that concentrates on individual children in a family-focussed and supportive way.
Our centre is a welcoming and nurturing space where each child is immersed in a rich tapestry of educationally interactive experiences – a space where children are supported to be their own, unique selves, growing and developing a sense of belonging and empowerment.
Our program offers children the opportunity to engage in a wide variety of learning experiences and activities, each specifically designed to promote children’s confidence as capable, active participants in their own learning. Children are presented with a range of activities including gardening, arts and crafts, music and movement, physical play, block building, sand and water play, science experiments, early numeracy activities such as counting and measurement, and early literacy activities such as reading, drawing and writing.
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 KU Bel Air, we focus on inquiry based learning.
We support children to see themselves as constructive contributors to the learning community through conversation, decision making and project work. Through observation, listening and intentional teaching, we work collaboratively to make new discoveries and re-visit past theories with the children. This leads us to informed decisions when considering the provision of materials and future experiences, and shows the children our genuine respect for their thinking, allowing them time to re-visit ideas and understandings.
We incorporate inquiry based learning into our program through activities that invite hands on learning experiences such as inquiry based projects, open-ended creative experiences, investigative manipulative construction as well as through the three sciences – environmental, biological and physical. We feel that the children benefit from this focus because these learning and play experiences invite participation, inquiry, research and exploration from the children which helps drive their learning. This makes learning more relevant and encourages children to develop critical thinking skills.
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...
“All staff are absolutely fantastic and very accommodating and welcoming.” - Bel Air parent
“KU Bel Air Preschool was recommended to me and I very quickly discovered why. The staff are all amazing, dedicated and passionate.” - Bel Air 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.
We believe it is essential to provide environments indoor and outdoor which are welcoming, nurturing and inclusive. We endeavour to create learning spaces that are exciting, beautiful and infused with natural materials that inspire spontaneity, collaboration, relationships and connects children with their natural world.
Our playground is designed to maximise the use of the natural environment and allow children to play and explore as they would in their own backyard. We offer stimulating activities that arouse children’s curiosity and encourage them to choose from a variety of planned experiences, expanding their learning potential. Our playground includes natural elements such as sand, water, grass and mud.
Our Reconciliation Action Plan
KU was proud to launch its inaugural Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) in 2016. At KU Bel Air, we began our journey to develop our centre’s RAP in 2018 and we are proud to launch it now. Please view it here.
Other Features
Hat and Sunscreen
Transition to School
Public Transport
Play-based Learning
Parking
Outdoor Play
Storypark
Education for Sustainability
Hat and Sunscreen
As part of the centre’s duty of care in minimising exposure to Ultraviolet Radiation (UVR) and promoting sun safe practices among children, families and staff, the centre provides each child with a KU hat and sunscreen is administered by staff where possible 20 minutes before commencing outdoor play.
Transition to School
The centre offers a full preschool program and places a strong emphasis on programs which challenge and extend children’s abilities and confidence, aiding their transition to school.
Public Transport
The centre is accessible by public transport and is close to a train station and/or public buses.
Play-based Learning
Our high quality play-based programs are based on current research and are planned by experienced and qualified early childhood staff. Through play children learn the skills, knowledge, feelings and dispositions that provide a solid foundation for their life-long learning.
Parking
Parking for drop-off and pick-up is available.
Outdoor Play
The centre provides a natural outdoor environment designed as an active place for learning. We encourage children to develop an understanding about sustainability by exploring the natural world around them.
Storypark
The centre provides a secure, private online communication portal called Storypark at no cost that is designed to document your child’s progress and learning and provide you with updates about your child.
Education for Sustainability
The centre has embraced a commitment to a more sustainable early education community, embedding sustainability into pedagogy and practice. We welcome families participation.
Rashifah Kamsan
Director
Rashifah is a university qualified early childhood teacher with over 20 years’ experience working in a range of services. This has provided her with the skills to support children and families in her current role at KU Bel Air Preschool. She believes that children are capable and resourceful learners who are active contributors to their own learning. She supports this by working in partnership with families to enable children to have the best learning opportunity in order to develop lifelong skills and a love for learning.
Our team of early childhood educators are qualified, experienced, caring and highly motivated. All hold specialist qualifications in early childhood education. We believe that the positive interactions children have with our staff are the most important component of our high quality program.
Through the provision of inspirational learning environments and the retention of highly skilled and dedicated educators, we provide a service of choice for our families as well as a mentoring opportunity for pre-service educators within the early childhood field.
Our long-standing team share a commitment to ensuring all families feel welcome and have a strong sense of belonging in our preschool community. We respect the values, backgrounds and differences of each family, and place a high priority on parents and educators working in partnership to achieve the best educational outcomes for children. We encourage children to become independent thinkers, with the confidence and capacity to resource their own learning, and make their own decisions. We look forward to the privilege of working with you and your child on this important stage of their educational journey.
The daily fees for 2021 at KU Bel Air Preschool are:
Fee
Amount
Attending two days (3 or 4 year olds)
FREE
Unfunded fee (single or additional days)
$74.00
Which fee will you pay?
The NSW Government is committed to ensuring that all children in NSW can participate in 600 hours of quality preschool education in the year before school, no matter where they live or what their circumstances are.
To ensure that affordability is not a barrier for families with young children, the NSW Government provides Start Strong funding making 600 hours, or 15 hours per week, of preschool participation in the two years before school more affordable. In KU preschools, this 15 hours per week is met by enrolling for two days per week.
'Free Fees': Start Strong (3 year olds and 4 year olds) and additional COVID funding
To be eligible for Start Strong (and therefore the COVID-19 funding for ‘free fees’ in 2021), children must turn 3 or 4 by 31 July in that preschool year, and be enrolled in a preschool program for 15 hours per week. Across KU Preschools, the ‘15 hours’ is usually met by enrolling in two x 7.5 hour days per week.
For 2021, the NSW government has provided additional funding for NSW preschools, to lessen the financial burden on families as a result of COVID-19. This funding means preschool will be free for those two days (15 hours), for children eligible for Start Strong funding.
The NSW Department of Education requires parents to sign the ‘Consent to use and disclosure of personal information’ form at the time of enrolment (see KU’s Standard Terms for the Enrolment of Children, p.4). Your eligibility for Start Strong Funding is conditional upon signing this form.
The Unfunded Fee is charged when:
Children who:
Only attend one day per week (less than 15 hours); or
Attend more than two days (15 hours) per week - in 2021, the first two days will be free, then you will be charged the Unfunded Daily Fee for each day after that.
