Working with our families
Warm mutually respectful relationships between educators and families are essential to providing a good quality early learning program. We actively encourage all our families to participate in our many celebrations and events throughout the year. While we realise that families often have work, study, younger children and or may have limited time - they still may want to become involved with our kindergarten in one way or another. Some suggestions of ways you can participate in the operation of the service include:
- Joining the Families Volunteer Group.
- Making a contribution to the Newsletter.
- Collecting recycled or donating materials from home.
- Offering some special music or songs in your home language for the children.
- Participating in the kinder program and learning activities through volunteer kinder duty.
- Participating in community events and cultural celebrations at our kindergarten.
- Sharing your special talent / interest with the children (e.g., baking, yoga, art projects, working on our veggie patch or playing an instrument).
Whether or not our families are able to participate in activities at the kindergarten, we strive to have a partnership with all our families at some level. The most important contribution our families make is to share their thoughts, ideas, any concerns about their children and their development. We expect our families to share with us what matters to them in their child rearing and what their expectations are with our kindergarten program. Working together, we can give children a great kindergarten experience.
Partnering with our local community
Working towards environmental sustainability
At Greenvue Kindergarten, we believe that working towards creating a sustainable environment with our students is the best way to serve our local community in the long run. The National Quality Standard (NQS) encourages educators to reflect on sustainability and what it means by encouraging children to take an active role in promoting sustainable practices in their immediate surroundings, environment and beyond, as well as fostering children’s respect and care for the environment. We aim to support children to develop positive attitudes and values by engaging in learning experiences that link people, plants, animals and the land and by watching adults around them model sustainable practices. Our kindergarten program incorporates environmental practices in everyday routines, such as planting vegetable patches, recycling various materials, conserving water and making use of natural light when possible. Learning about sustainability starts with everyday practice. Our educators & children love to reason why sustainable practices are needed and aim to understand the impact that our actions have on the environment.
Our Community
Our ever increasing partnerships with our local community including charity organisations, volunteer agencies, schools, businesses, libraries, Wyndham City Council and the Victorian Government contribute to an invaluable amount of benefit for our educators, families and children alike. Our students' learning experiences and environmental sustainability always remains at the core of all our community engagements. We also aim to organise various incursions every term for our students in the context of engagement with their local community. At Greenvue Kinder, we believe that children learn about themselves and construct their own identity within the context of their families and communities. This includes their relationships with people, places and things and the actions & responses of others at home and in their local communities.