SCHOOL READINESS PROGRAM

Unlock your potentials

It is the educational goal at Growing Maestros that children develop universal skills to their best abilities for school readiness, thus the whole learning environment and program has been designed in line with the EYLF outcomes. Our qualified early childhood trained educators continuously work on the children's pre-reading and pre-writing skills through various daily activities.

To further prepare our children for their exciting time in kindergarten, our program is also informed by the ACARA’s (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority) and NESA’s (NSW Education Standards Authority) syllabus of the 6 Key Learning Areas in primary school:

Literacy, Numeracy, Arts, Human Society, Science & Technology and PDHPE (sports).

We put a huge emphasis on interaction: between the educators and the children, as well as among the children themselves. The demands of life in the 21st century require a whole set of life skills attainable only through real-life interaction. This is the reason that we encourage children to mix across the age group throughout the different learning spaces of the day. It is our hope that this 'family grouping' approach will nurture our children into caring and compassionate human beings as well as academically highly accomplished individuals.

Lastly, our educators aim to promote an inclusive educational environment and model their teaching philosophy by the principles of the Universal Design of Learning.

LITERACY AND NUMERACY

Imaginative / dramatic play time will occur spontaneously throughout the day as children move around the many learning spaces carefully prepared by our educators, thus engaging in literacy and numeracy continuously across all activities. Storytelling is a particularly important time of the day, and each child will take turns to present their news topics using traditional and new media.

THE ARTS

Art activities feature every day in a variety of forms. Children refine fine and gross motor skills by doing small craft activities, as well as larger scale construction of art work, and most importantly they will engage in applied art: art on real-life purpose objects.

LANGUAGES

Immersion in foreign languages is very important at Growing Maestros. Children will be talked to regularly in their family’s choice of foreign languages, through social conversation, playtime, reading and singing sessions. Native speakers in French, Indonesian, Mandarin and Russian will lead the immersion program.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Much of the science content will be introduced through the inquiry model of learning, and children can experience early coding technique with the very amusing Bee-Bot.

OUTDOOR PLAY

Children learn their Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) through free play, practice drill and formal sessions of yoga, ballet and other forms of sports.

TRANSITION TO SCHOOL

At the beginning of term 4, children entering Kindy in the following year will start practising big school routine, such as handling lunchboxes for meals and taking classroom duties throughout the day.

At Growing Maestros we strive to implement an integrated curriculum. The children constantly acquire new knowledge in literacy and numeracy while engaging in arts activities or music classes. They develop fundamental movement skills (PDHPE) and gross / fine motor skills in musical games or playground free play. Engaging in one learning area always benefits several other learning areas.

Children's interests are always valued, and educators plan the day's activities accordingly, incorporating imaginative play and constructing activities whenever possible. Much thought has been put into creating a learning environment which is welcoming, friendly and comfortable, and also an intellectually stimulating and flexible space in which creative minds can wander around and shape innovative ideas.