Curiosity

Team Capacity & Growth

The Curiosity Learning Community continues to grow with 87 children enrolled at the end of the year and 45 of those children moving to Foundation in 2023.  Our Staff Team was added to frequently as enrolments rose and the inclusion needs of our children increased.  As attachment theory drives our thinking around secure relationships, consistency within the Staff Team is a priority for us and allows team culture do drive our daily practices.  

The Staff Team continue to operate at a high capacity each day, bringing their God given best for each other and the children.  Professional learning has driven the improvement on how we design curriculum with children.  Attendances at; Semann & Slattery Educational Leader Training, Reggio Emilia Australia Information Exchange network meetings and SYMPOSIUM, AISSA Early Years Reference Group, Australian Conference for Lutheran Education, Green Adelaide networks, Women in Leadership, Leader in Lutheran Learning Community and Gowrie professional learning opportunities have enriched our thinking.  

Five of our team completed the LESNW Connect program, giving opportunity to connect deeper with the 'Growing Deep' framework and explore Lutheran identity.  

Curiosity continues to be a place of professional training for developing Early Years Educators.  In 2022, we hosted seven students from Cert 3 - Bachelor qualification courses.  As our profession continues to be met with recruitment challenges, we aspire to offer Curiosity as a place where quality training can be offered to influence the industry.

Inclusion support continues to be a focus for our staff team as needs diversify and become broader in skill and knowledge requirements.  Working closely with GOWRIE and the Allied Health providers who offer therapy sessions onsite, our team had access to expertise to support the barriers the children experience with their learning and well-being.  The implementation of individual support plans was finalised in 2022, offering all stakeholders involved in a child's life a 'place at the table' to work in partnership together.

Our Reconciliation Action Plan began it's research phase in 2022, sitting as a cluster RAP under the Connected Schools group.  The team members consist of children, parents, staff and Mrs Kate Mount (RAP Consultant with AISSA).  With an increase of children being enrolled identifying as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, creating our RAP team and getting moving on cultural sensitivity training became a priority for us.  

Quality Improvement Plan

With our Centre assessed in 2021 as 'Meeting', time has been given to strengthening and broadening our pedagogy and practise in the following key areas:

1. Transition
2. Pedagogy of Documentation 
3. Parent & Community Engagement + Community Garden.

With Curiosity being the beginning point of a child's education at Good Shepherd, it is important for us to begin building connections between our Service and the school.  Intentional planning and considerable time is dedicated to designing opportunities for children to build a sense of belonging to the school before they even commence.  Working alongside Foundation Teachers has strengthened in 2022 with reflection up on two years of plans being inhibited.  At the beginning of 2022 we began to hear comments from families around how comfortable their child was on their first day at school and walked straight into the learning environments with ease.  We celebrate this!  Attention was given to extending a transition focus to our schools Out of School Hours Care 'imagination'.  With 75% of our children attending OSHC, opportunity was given for each child to spend time building relationships with the educators and buddy children whom would support them in 2023.

What a privilege it is to research alongside children as they take notice of the world and inquire into the workings of how things operate, the way they are designed, and the purpose behind it all.   Pedagogical documentation is often up for debate in respects to who it is for, what it is about, how it should be done and when?  Our team has researched these questions this year with mentor texts from Alma Fleet, Katherine Murdoch, Anthony Semann, Catherine Patterson and Janet Robertson.  Our planning documents referred to as 'Living & Learning by Design' were reviewed and changed to allow for project research to be more visible and to increase parents engagement.  This line of research will continue into 2023.  

Under the co-construction guidance of our Lead Eductor, Mrs Demi Iknomopoulos and Educator, Mrs Karen Bloffwitch one of our 4yr old learning teams took out the SA Award for Little Scientist of the Year.  A bi-annual recognition given to one Early Years Service.  We were privileged to host the Hon. Mr Blair Boyer, Minister for Education, Mr Michael Brown MP, Ms Olivia Savvas MP, Mrs Barbara Murray (Consultant and Friend to Curiosity) and Mrs Libby Worrell (Senior Early Years consultant with AISSA) at our rewards ceremony as we show cased the children's research and findings.  

With COVID restrictions eased, there was a great sense and urgency to have our extended learning community members back in our environment.  Our extended community events saw our children participate in 'Clean Up Australia Day',  perform for our local Lifestyle Village and End of Year Celebration and begin working with Green Adelaide to reimagine an unused parcel of land connected to our building.  

There are endless possibilities to be discovered, questions to be explored and treasures to be uncovered.  We celebrate all that 2022 has brought us and as we look back we remember the "small, the big and all the other things in between."