About us

Alphabet Preschool Educational Program

When a child attends Alphabet Preschool, they will be immersed in learning opportunities that will set them up for school and beyond. We use the Early Years Learning Framework to observe your child at play and tailor education programs to suit their unique style of learning. Community engagement and nature is the heart of our education philosophy; we teach your child practical life skills and creative thinking.

Early Years Learning Framework

Fundamental to the Framework is a view of children’s lives as characterised by belonging, being and becoming. From before birth children are connected to family, community, culture and place. Their earliest development and learning takes place through these relationships, particularly within families, who are children’s ﬁrst and most influential educators. As children participate in everyday life, they develop interests and construct their own identities and understandings of the world.

Belonging

Experiencing belonging – knowing where and with whom you belong – is integral to human existence. Children belong ﬁrst to a family, a cultural group, a neighbourhood and a wider community. Belonging acknowledges children’s interdependence with others and the basis of relationships in defining identities. In early childhood, and throughout life, relationships are crucial to a sense of belonging. Belonging is central to being and becoming in that it shapes who children are and who they can become.

Being

Childhood is a time to be, to seek and make meaning of the world. Being recognises the significance of the here and now in children’s lives. It is about the present and them knowing themselves, building and maintaining relationships with others, engaging with life’s joys and complexities, and meeting challenges in everyday life. The early childhood years are not solely preparation for the future but also about the present.

Becoming

Children’s identities, knowledge, understandings, capacities, skills and relationships change during childhood. They are shaped by many different events and circumstances. Becoming reﬂects this process of rapid and significant change that occurs in the early years as young children learn and grow. It emphasises learning to participate fully and actively in society.

A Regular Day

The Centre opens at 6:30am and your child is welcome to attend from this time. Our educators will welcome you and your child into the family grouping room and offer your child breakfast.

Between 8:30/9.00am your child’s educator will take them into their own room and the learning program will begin.

Morning meeting happens on the group mat where children will discuss with each other their thoughts and ideas for the day. Our acknowledgment of country occurs at this time and some form of intentional teaching.

Morning Tea is served between 9:00/9:30am; your child will be encouraged to self serve as they wish. Free play occurs during this time and gives the educators the opportunity to observe children and engage in small group teaching experiences.

Our cook will provide a nutritious lunch at 12:00/12:30 and children will be encouraged to try new foods. After lunch, your child will be encouraged to either sleep, rest, engage in mindfulness or a quiet activity. It is important that children learn to rest their bodies and minds in this busy world. Allowing your child the time to ‘be in the moment’ is so important. We sometimes take our naps outside, to help build a strong immune system.

When the children are all awake and ready to go, art experiences will be provided to your child. “Little ideas become big ideas when children learn to be creative”. Rudolf Steiner places great emphasis on allowing children the time to engage in artwork.

Extracurricular activities occur throughout the week to engage your child in specialist learning. These sessions will occur in the morning or afternoon sessions depending on availability and routines of the children. We will attend excursions and be involved in community service.

Afternoon tea will once again be served by our cook and your child will be encourage to self serve as they wish.

The evening meeting is a reflection of the day and what your child felt/achieved/liked/disliked during the day.

The Centre becomes quieter at 5:30pm and the children will be grouped together and given a healthy snack. This is also wind down time, a time for reading books or singing. Parents are asked to collect their child before 6:30pm.

Fees

We offer session times structured to allow you to get the most out of your childcare subsidy hours. Effective 10 July 2023, our fee structure will be:

9 hour sessions $135
10 hour sessions $140
12 hour sessions $148

We also take a $50 booking fee when you join our wait list.

We offer our families 3 weeks of holidays and all public holidays charged at $100 per day (CCS will apply and reduce these costs if eligible).

The importance of play in learning

“Beauty is found in nature and that nature itself should be and is the most infinite source of creative inspiration”- Maria Montessori

We believe in the importance of creating opportunities for your child to make connections with our natural world. Our outdoor environments were created with this in mind. Using natural wood, branches, plants, trees, herb and veggie gardens, we’ve created a space where your child can explore and investigate.

Our animals are also an important part of our curriculum. Aside from being a valuable tool to help children to relax, the rabbits in the younger age group help teach your child responsibility and empathy. Our chickens roam freely around the outside; chickens are an amazing pet and we think they have endless learning opportunities:

Our relationship with our planet and all its inhabitants
Respect for other living creatures
Empathy through caring for another living thing
The connections in our natural world between plants, animals, and people

Practice overcoming anxieties, especially animal-related anxieties
Responsibility – feeding schedules, collecting eggs, keeping chickens safe
Animal kindness and the ability to identify and stop animal cruelty
The life cycle; observations from egg to chick to chicken

Extracurricular Calendar

Wednesdays:

Language classes are back this year, with Spanish with Laura on Wednesdays! There are a lot of benefits to learning a second language as a child, including better memory skills, improved ability to focus, increased vocabulary, and more. Developing these skills will help your child to grow into a confident learner. Que interestante!

Thursdays:

Cooking class with Marc – The children loved their cooking classes last year and the classes will continue this year. Marc will also be holding lessons on healthy eating and where food comes from to encourage the children to eat a wide variety of foods.

Fridays:
Yoga with Priti – Priti Rathod is a diploma qualified educator and certified yoga instructor who has worked with children for over 17 years. Priti teaches Yoga and mindfulness, and celebrates different cultures through her program with the children. Yoga at an early age encourages self-esteem and body awareness, with a physical activity that is non-competitive. Fostering cooperation and compassion is a great gift to give our children.

In addition, we will have fun incursions throughout the year such as Animal Farms, Reptiles, African Drumming and Puppet shows, as well as taking your child on many adventures outdoors such as Bush Kinder, Beach Kinder, Narana and the Queenscliff Discovery Centre.

Facilities

Our amenities have all been designed to complement our philosophy.

Our kitchen is a state-of-the art facility enabling us to produce fresh foods on a daily basis for your child.

We have six play spaces, which allows us to place your child into a group in which they feel most comfortable and which will help the most with their learning.

Our nursery room is designed for children under 15 months and we will only accept twelve enrolments in this space to allow for the maximum care and attention. We know how important sleep is for growing babies, therefore our nursery has a separate, quiet, sleeping space, away from the noise of the play space to enable a restful sleep and a happy baby.

Our two toddler rooms are for children aged 15 months to 3 years old, each one designed to maximise the learning opportunities important for this age group.

Our pre-kinder room is for children aged 2.5 (years who are ready for this room) to 5 years old. The prekinder room is designed to begin preparing children for our 3 year old kinder and 4 year old kinder.

Our 3 and 4 year old kinders work closely together to bring about a learning program designed to prepare your child for school and beyond.

Each room has their own fully fenced outdoor play space, full of natural materials and open-ended experiences.

We use StoryPark as a programming and communication tool. Photographs and observations regarding your child will be uploaded onto this app regularly so that you can see what your child has enjoyed in their day. Messages can also be sent back and forth via this app.

Food

We believe in nourishing little bodies from the inside out with fresh foods, packed with nutrition. We know that sometimes children can be fussy, so we’ve developed ways to sneak in bucket-loads of nutrition without it even being noticed!

Our fruit and vegetable produce is locally sourced wherever possible. Each room has access to fresh fruit, paired with our permanent alkalised water station, as a part of the children’s daily snacks. Our preschool provides breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and late snack to all children who attend.

Our menu is a four week rotated menu which is changed seasonally.

Click on the link below to download a sample menu.

Download menu

Ready to enrol?

Wanting to enrol your child into Alphabet Preschool? Click on the button below to start your enrolment process.

Click here to enrol