Glen Education Rowen St

The Pyramid Model

At Glen Rowen Street Kindergarten, educators are continuously learning and using reflective practice to best meet the educational needs of the children.  

Using training from The Pyramid Model, the staff took on a project to embed new practices into the curriculum this year.  Using these new strategies, our aim is to support children to increase their social and emotional competencies.  

So, what has been happening? 

We have been meeting our service goals to  

1. Empower children to respect and care for themselves, others and their environment, by being an active member of the kindergarten community and wider world.   
2. For the children to develop the skills to manage the complexities of life, which involves the ability to be curious, ask questions, take safe risks, and problem solve.  
3. Supporting children to be effective communicators which involves conveying, constructing and receiving messages with purpose and confidence.  

Asking the children provocations such as “How can we keep safe at kindergarten?” and recording their input has helped lead to our group and centre expectations.  When children are involved in creating their own rules for safety and being respectful, it has greater meaning and understanding for them to follow the expectations. 

Using a range of visual cues to assist children in remembering and following routines, exploring feelings, staying safe and maintaining a respectful space supports them throughout their learning in the day.  Visual posters of a range of feelings and allowing children to put their picture on the way they feel has been one way they can explore the topic of feelings.  

We extend it through everyday experiences, beginning to allow them to think about how others may feel too.  We are also introducing a puppet called ‘Tucker Turtle’ who supports children in managing and calming themselves.  It is only when we are calm that we can begin to solve a problem we may have. 

We have introduced a range of problem solving cards to help children think of solutions and learn to be able to solve problems independently of educators.   

To enable children to fully immerse themselves in the learning, we will be providing families with resources to use at home.  Some of you may have received some of these already. 

 Please feel free to ask educators if you have any questions or would like further support with your child learning social and emotional skills.  It is when children are competent in their emotional and social abilities that they are able to extend their cognitive skills.

The next part of learning will include the concept of being brave.