Our Program and Approach
At KU Shalvey, we believe children are capable, competent and active participants in their own learning. Our program is guided by the Early Years Learning Framework and the core concepts of belonging, being and becoming.
We work in partnership with children, families and communities to find effective ways to ensure that all children have opportunities to achieve learning outcomes. We believe in the importance of building relationships with families that are based on trust, respect, compassion and understanding. We are proud of our reputation within the local community of being an inclusive service providing rich education and care that concentrates on individual children in a family-focussed and supportive way.
Our outdoor and indoor spaces are designed and organised to engage children in quality experiences in both built and natural environments. We provide a home like environment that allows children to freely explore, engage and investigate.
Our program offers children the opportunity to engage in a wide variety of learning experiences and 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 interest.
At KU Shalvey, our special interest is for all children to acquire ways to manage their physical and emotional wellbeing.
We incorporate this into our program through activities such as messy play, loose parts play, music and movement, blowing bubbles, talking about emotions and our responses, water play, yoga sessions, breathing exercises, gross motor play and connecting with the natural environment.
We feel that the children benefit from this interest, because it increases their confidence and sense of wellbeing.
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...
“I like how friendly the staff are and how informative our director is regarding my child. I like that the children are involved in creating items for special events (i.e. my Mother's Day soap). I like that my child enjoys her time at KU and comes home and tells me what she has learnt.” – KU Shalvey parent
"The workers at KU Shalvey have always been so friendly and kind to both my daughter and myself. I know that my daughter enjoys her day at preschool, because she's always so happy at the end of the day when I pick her up. I appreciate the effort the workers put into getting to know my daughter, even though she only goes one day a week." – KU Shalvey 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 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 Shalvey, we began our journey to develop our centre’s RAP in 2018 and we are proud to launch it now. Please view it here.
