Our Program and Approach

At KU Bulli, 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 Bulli, 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.

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 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 KU Bulli, we focus on building strong relationships with families and our community.

We incorporate this into our program through activities such as our celebration of ‘Families Week’, links with local schools, and other community events such as the Bulli show, and aboriginal and Torres strait islander connections and projects.

We feel that the children benefit from this focus because it increases their involvement in the local community, promotes cultural awareness and helps develop a strong sense of belonging.

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 Exceeding the National Quality Standard.

However what matters most is what our families think...

“The staff at KU Bulli are absolutely wonderful. I had heard great things about the school and they have met my expectations and more.” – KU Bulli parent

“Fantastic experience so far. Living up to all the rave reviews.” – KU Bulli 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 outside play area overlooks a wonderful creek, and attracts local wildlife, providing children with the opportunity to observe local flora and fauna.

We have strong links with the University of Wollongong and are supporting a number of students in their studies.

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 Bulli, we began our journey to develop our centre’s RAP in 2017 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

Michelle Lashbrook

Director

Michelle is a university qualified early childhood teacher with over 20 years’ experience working with children and babies. She has been working at KU Bulli since 2010. Michelle has a strong interest in children’s literacy, which she regularly incorporates into the day-to-day classroom, and she also strives to promote the use of technology in the classroom. Michelle has a strong belief in promoting strong relationships with children and families as a solid base for education. Michelle has proudly won an award from Macquarie University, for mentoring a student.

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.

Our staff have all been working at our preschool for over a decade, and boast a wealth of experience, as well as an in-depth knowledge of the local community.

Children who are three years old, will pay the Unfunded Daily Fee: $67 per day

Children in the year before they are eligible to start school

…who attend one day per week (less than 15 hours per week) will pay the Unfunded Daily Fee: $67 per day
…who attend two days per week (15 hours per week) will pay the Start Strong Fee: $33 per day
…who attend more than two days per week (more than 15 hours per week), will pay the Start Strong Fee ($33) for the first two days, then the Unfunded Daily Fee ($67) for each day after that

If you hold a Health Care Card, you may be entitled to a further discount on your preschool fees. Please speak with the Preschool Director about this if you think you may be eligible.

Why are preschool fees so complex?

The NSW Government provides preschool funding, called Start Strong funding. This funding is to be directed towards children in the year before they are eligible to start school (four and five year olds) who are enrolled in a preschool program for 15 hours per week. At KU Bulli, the ‘15 hours’ is met by enrolling in two x 7.5 hour days per week.

Start Strong funding means we can provide a fee reduction for those 15 hours; this is the Start Strong Fee.

Where do your fees go?

In an increasingly competitive marketplace, KU has remained very proudly a not for profit provider. Our fees are designed to cover the operational costs of delivering the unique KU learning experience, and to ensure KU can continue delivering those experiences for many years to come.

Any surplus we may make is reinvested into our local staff, our high quality services, and ensuring our long term sustainability. KU does not distribute our profits to shareholders, or send them offshore.

KU Bulli Preschool