Glen Education North Cheltenham

Supportive Relationships

By Clare Pollock, Early Childhood Teacher

We are already at the end of Term 1, and the children at Glen Nth Cheltenham are settling into life at kindergarten with enthusiasm and interest in their new environment. 

The teaching Team have come together and collaborated a focus and service goal which we continue to support and implement into our daily practices.

1. Support children and families to develop a sense of belonging and comfort within the kindergarten environment.

    

2. Establish and build strong supportive relationships between educators, children and families.

With these goals in mind all Educators are committed to creating a sense of belonging and building respectful and strong partnerships. 

Supporting these goals began during our kindergarten orientation days where children and families were invited into our beautiful kindergarten to explore and begin buildingrelationships with Educators, peers and other families. We collected “Getting to know you” forms where we learnt and reflected on children’s interests, individual supports and families hopes, dreams and goals.

We engaged in an Opening Ceremony with connections to the Community,  and celebrated a Welcoming Picnic with families.

Supporting children to settle into kindergarten by developing and implementing various strategies in collaboration with families has seen us create welcoming and inviting play spaces, inclusive displays, individual child portfolios, and magnificent family photo displays.

As we strive to reach our goal, we have encouraged children to actively participate in group play and facilitated small group games. These play spaces and experiences encourage collaboration and social play as they establish relationships with their peers and educators.

We continue to encourage families to be a part of our goals and processes through collaborative partnerships with open communication about their children’s individual needs, learning and development. Families are welcome to read programs, reflections and share ideas through engagement with our programs.

We look forward to working with children and families throughout the year.

What makes you happy at kinder?

Ella T- “Excited to play with Jaden”

Mia R- “Making craft”

Leila- “Playing playdough, makes me excited and happy”

Arjun- “I like staying at this kinder”

Saffi- “I have friends”

Sumedh- “My Mum and Dad come back, and I play with friends”

Ella Mc- “Playing in the sand”

Milana- “When I play with my best friend”

Educators Voice:

Pam- “taking time to connect with families and finding out specific goals for children that are important to parents, for the children’s learning and development.

Clare- “it is lovely to see the children begin to have a sense of belonging in such a beautiful learning environment”

Sunny- “We are working hard to build positive and genuine relationships with all families”

Tracey- “ We are empowering children to have a voice in their transition to kinder”