Glen Education Sundowner

Building Our Community Together

By Sue-Ann Thum, Early Childhood Teacher

At Glen Sundowner Kindergarten, we're dedicated to creating a strong sense of belonging for every child and family. We take pride in our diverse community and the unique blend of cultures that enrich our kindergarten.

Our Goals for 2025

This year, we're focusing on helping children become more independent, build resilience, and develop a lifelong love of learning.

Goal 1: Fostering Independence

We'll give children chances to make choices, solve problems, and take care of themselves. For example, Children will take their lunch boxes out of their bags and choose when they eat their snacks. This also involves learning how to open and close lunch boxes a skill that not only develops independence but their fine motor skills. Children are also encouraged to look after their own belongings by putting them away. Children learn how to care for their bodies by learning how to dress themselves by thinking about the weather, Do we need hats, jackets and or sunscreen? We prompt children to think about this and assist them through verbal guidance, demonstrations or partially helping them so that they can finish the rest

Lifelong Skills: This helps children grow confidence, self-reliance, and strong thinking skills.

Goal 2: Building Resilience

We're creating a safe space where children can try new things, learn from mistakes, and keep going when things get tough. We'll cheer them on, listen to their stories, and teach them how to handle their feelings and get along with others through stories, role-playing, and open communication. The children love when we emphasize when we make mistakes as it normalises it, that even grown-ups make mistakes and it is okay. We can talk about why it happened, how it happened and what we can do to problem solve this.

Lifelong Skills: This equips children with emotional control, coping strategies, a growth mindset, and strong social-emotional skills.

Goal 3: Nurturing a Love of Lifelong Learning

We'll offer fun, stimulating activities that spark curiosity and encourage children to explore what interests them. We'll use play-based learning and foster a sense of wonder. We love when children come up to us and ask a question. We then ask the children about what they know and scaffold that learning by extending on this. These interests based questions really spark a “wow I didn’t know that” and we divulge into researching this topic on the iPad.
Lifelong Skills: This builds a passion for learning, problem-solving skills, and the ability to adapt.

How You Can Help

Your involvement is key to your child's learning!

Reinforce Skills at Home: Support what we're doing at kindergarten by giving your child chances to be independent and resilient at home.
Share Your Culture: We’d love for families to share their cultural heritage with us. Would you like to:
Share a traditional recipe through a cooking activity?
Teach us a song from your culture?
Read a favourite book in your language or one that celebrates your culture?
Open Communication: Keep in touch with our educators to build a strong partnership. Let us know about your child's interests, strengths, and any concerns so we can tailor our program to them.
Active Participation: Come to events such as working bees (community volunteer days), kinder activities, volunteer with your talents whether it be reading a story, sing a song or help when you can to strengthen our community and support your child's learning.
To Ensure a Strong Relationship: We need open and honest communication from you. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. We will provide a safe, respectful, and open environment for you and your child.

Community Partnerships

We're dedicated to building strong connections in our community. This year, we're excited to continue working with:

The Local Library: We'll be visiting soon for story time to make learning even more fun.
Woolworths: They’re providing us with fresh fruit each week to keep our children healthy and energized. We're also planning an educational trip to learn about healthy eating and where our food comes from, as well as educational experiences within the kindergarten.
Local Primary Schools: We’re building relationships to help children transition smoothly from kindergarten. We've had visits from students, teachers, and visited the school in the past.
Maternal and Child Health Nurse: We'll continue to work together to support the health and well-being of our children and families.

These partnerships give our children great chances to learn and grow, and we encourage you to use these resources.

We invite you to be a part of this process!

Together, we can create a supportive place where every child can thrive.