Glen Education Centre Road

Making Authentic Connection with Families 

Megan Miller, Early Childhood Teacher

At Glen Education Centre Road Kindergarten, we embrace and support the diversity of our families and endeavour to create a welcoming atmosphere for all.  Families have the greatest influence on their child’s life and have a wealth of knowledge about them. 

Communication between families and educators is the foundation for respectful and trusting relationships.  For many families, discussing the impact of kindergarten experiences, hearing about their child’s development and recognising mutual triumphs as children accomplish milestones both at home, and at kinder, strengthens the relationships between families and educators.

We work together in partnership to support and nurture each child’s learning and development.  We encourage families to actively observe and participate in the kindergarten program and value their contributions.  For this reason, we welcome family members to come into the kindergarten anytime to stay and play with their child and we also have families come in to contribute to the program in planned ways. 

We want to support families to contribute and be involved in ways that are meaningful and accessible for them.  This year, we have had families get involved by sending along something interesting, such as the ingredients for a science experiment that Harman’s family sent along, reflections from Xavier’s family holiday, and photos of Isabella and William’s visits to the dentist.  We have embraced important cultural celebrations such as when Audrey’s family came in to celebrate Chinese New Year, and Emilie’s to share Orthodox Easter celebrations.  We shared the joy and importance of having a baby in the family when Jack’s mum and baby sister came in for bath time.  Imogen’s grandparents came along with supplies and lots of knowledge to help us re-establish our veggie patch.  All these small and large contributions have sparked discussions and developed into further lines of enquiry and development of activities for the children in the kindergarten. 

We regularly hold Family Celebrations once or twice a term, where we encourage family members, including parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other special people, to come along on the day and spend some time with their child.  It has been a great opportunity for people to meet the other families in our community, as well as giving children a chance to share their kindergarten experience with people they love.