Our Program and Approach
At KU Kookaburra, we provide a play-based learning program that is responsive to the strengths, interests and needs of children.
Our educators aim to ensure all children develop secure, reciprocal relationships with their educators and peers, enabling them to grow to become confident people who respect diversity and make a valued contribution to society.
At KU Kookaburra, 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 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 Special Interest
In addition to the high quality well-rounded programs we offer, all KU centres are also encouraged to develop an area of special interest.
At KU Kookaburra our special interest area is Sustainability. Our educators are committed to providing a service that promotes and practises sustainability. We take a highly practical approach to this. At our service, you will notice we have chickens that wander our natural playground. The children are actively involved in their care. The children are also involved in growing vegetables and sharing the produce with our families. Within our learning environments, you will find natural materials for use in our construction and craft. We source natural materials for our props in our social and dramatic play areas. We recognise the significant role our service has in modelling sustainable values and practices, supporting life-long learning for a sustainable future
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...
“The staff at KU Kookaburra are fantastic. They really care about the individual children and there is always a variety of activities. The educational content has been very interesting and exciting for our children.” – KU Kookaburra parent
“My son loves his day at KU Kookaburra. The activities offered are fun, appropriate and varied. The staff are caring and supportive.” – KU Kookaburra 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 Kookaburra Preschool caters for 28 children a day. The Preschool was established over 60 years ago. The original building stood where our playground is now. The older building needed replacing, so as a community, 30 years ago, our new building was built. Our beautiful, large established trees were incorporated into our new playground ensuring we had a lush, natural area for the children to enjoy.
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 Awards
The Annual 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.
In 2015, the team at KU Kookaburra Preschool was awarded the Making “the KU Difference” Award by Representing KU.
Our Reconciliation Action Plan
KU was proud to launch its inaugural Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) in 2016. At KU Kookaburra, we began our journey to develop our centre’s RAP in 2018 and we are proud to launch it now. Please view it here.
