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 Meeting 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.

Other Features

Hat and Sunscreen

Transition to School

Public Transport

Play-based Learning

Outdoor Play

Storypark

Belinda McFayden

Director

Belinda is a university qualified teacher with over 16 years’ experience working with children and babies. She has been working at KU Shalvey since March 2017. Belinda has extra training in child development, additional needs and child protection and is passionate about helping children reach their fullest potential.

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.

The daily fees for 2019 at KU Shalvey Preschool are:

Start Strong Fee: $3
Unfunded Fee: $36

Which fee will you pay?

Start Strong Fee

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. Across KU Preschools, the ‘15 hours’ is met by enrolling in two x 7.5 hour days per week.

Start Strong funding is then passed on as a fee reduction for those 15 hours, with the Start Strong fee then applied to all four and five year old children enrolled for two days (15 hours) per week.

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.

Unfunded Fee

The Unfunded Fee is charged when:

Children are three years old
Children are four or five years old who:
- Only attend one day per week (less than 15 hours); or
- Attend more than two days (15 hours) per week – you will pay the Start Strong Fee for the first two days, then the Unfunded Daily Fee for each day after that.

Is there a discounted 3-year-old fee?

You may have seen media reports that the NSW Government is extending Start Strong funding to three year olds in 2019. Whilst funding for three year olds will be less than for older children, it is still very welcome news.

The NSW Government will release that funding mid-2019. We look forward to being able to pass this funding on to families as discounted fees at that time. Until then, families of three year old children will be charged the Unfunded Fee.

Are you a Health Care Card holder?

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 further about this.