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 KU Briar Cottage, our play-based program offers children the opportunity to engage in a wide variety of learning experiences and activities that are specifically designed to promote their confidence as capable and active participants in their own learning. These experiences include gardening, cooking, creative art, literacy, numeracy, playdough, science experiments, music, block building and sand and water play.
Learning programs are developed for each child, based upon their individual strengths, needs and interests. Digital portfolios of children’s work are kept by our educators, offering parents a window into their child’s experiences at our preschool.
Aesthetic learning spaces are created by our team of educators, to create stimulating and sensory learning opportunities. These spaces encourage children to develop curiosity, take new challenges, consolidate emerging skills, persist and learn to engage and work with other children and adults.
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.
Our Specialisation
In addition to the high quality well-rounded programs we offer, all KU centres are also encouraged to develop an area of specialisation.
At KU Briar Cottage, our area of specialisation is garden to table nutrition, within a context of Inclusive Education.
We incorporate this into our program through engaging all children in the care of our large vegetable and herb gardens and our flock of chickens, as well as including lots of our fresh produce into cooking experiences throughout the year.
We feel that the children benefit from this specialisation, because children develop an understanding of their role within their environment and their community.
Our Quality
Our centre has been independently assessed by the NSW Department of Education under the National Quality Standards, and are proud to be rated as 'Exceeding' the National Quality Standard.
However what matters most is what our families think...
"I was only thinking this morning how lucky she was to be part of the Briar Family. You all gave her so much support and love over the past two terms, and built her up so she was ready to tackle Big School. Thank you for welcoming her so beautifully. There’s no place like Briar." – KU Briar Cottage parent
“All the educators and staff are very much trained to train our little one. He has started doing wonders and life is changing to be a bit better each day. Big thumbs up for educators, staff and Jenelle.” – KU Briar Cottage parent
“We will always be some of your biggest fans – we will never forget how you made Ash’s preschool experience simply incredible, loving and supportive. Thank you times a million.” – KU Briar Cottage 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 Briar Cottage has been providing high quality preschool education since 1977. Situated in a beautiful heritage-listed home, KU Briar Cottage is a happy and friendly place, where every child’s individuality and uniqueness is respected.
One section of our playground is our sensory garden, which contains a wide variety of multi-coloured and fragrant plants to stimulate children’s senses.
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, mud, leaves and twigs, and we also offer gross motor experiences such as climbing, jumping and physical play. We foster the holistic development of each child so they 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 KU Briar Cottage, we began our journey to develop our centre’s RAP in 2018 and we are proud to launch it now. Please view it here.