Early Learning Centre

National Families week ran 13 - 19 May with this year's theme being ‘Celebrating family diversity and connections’. Mount Carmel Early Learning Centre (ELC) hosted a family afternoon tea where our students had the opportunity to show their families what they have been working on as well as engage in fun experiences. 

Over the week our ELC educators and students spoke about who their families are and who lives in their homes. Students had the opportunity to sit with a close peer or an educator to create their own house out of popsicle sticks then draw their family inside. This experience helped them to understand that all families are different. The students enjoyed being able to express themselves verbally to their peers and educators throughout the experience.

Children’s voices:

“Mummy, Daddy and Ray” – Reyansh

“I have a Grandma called Mardi” – Maxwell

“My house has two doors” – Juniper

“My Mummy, my Daddy, my Cali, my puppy and my puppy, I’ve got two puppies.” -Juniper

“This is my dog” – Matilda

“I can make a house” -Hannah

“Mummy, Daddy me and Vivienne” – Vivienne

“My Mummy builds big houses” – Vivienne

“That’s 46 and half years old Mum. This is the 5 and a half year old. That’s Lenny. Making a house is easy, look what I did.” – Forrest

EYLF Practice: Cultural responsiveness

Educators view culture and the context of the child’s family and wider community as central to children’s sense of being and belonging, and their successful lifelong learning. They assist children to be culturally competent and responsive by taking actions in the face of unfairness and discrimination. Educators collaborate with children, their families and members of the community to build culturally safe and secure environments and use this knowledge to inform their practice.