Belonging Early Learning Hornsby

At Belonging Hornsby, we understand the importance of early childhood development, and our program is carefully crafted to foster essential skills for school readiness. Through a combination of play-based activities, interactive learning, and socialisation, we aim to instill a love for learning and curiosity in each child.

Key Features of Our Preschool Program:

• Play- based Learning: We understand the importance of play in a child's development. Our curriculum is crafted to incorporate age-appropriate experiences that engage children in hands-on learning experiences, sparking their imagination and creativity.
• Child centered Environments: The environment plays an important role in the children's learning at Belonging. Both indoor and outdoor learning areas are set for children to practice their skills and knowledge through play. Our education team set aesthetic spaces with beautiful resources and provocations to enhance children's learning and development.
• Academic Foundations: We focus on preschool skills including pre-literacy, pre- numeracy, pre-science skills to enhance children;s cognition and provide a solid foundation for future academic success.
• Social Skills: Our program encourages positive social interactions, cooperation, and communication, helping children build strong relationships with their peers and educators alike.
• Independence: We empower children to develop self-help skills and a sense of independence, laying the groundwork for a smooth transition to formal schooling. We encourage children to understand their role within the community and how to look after their own possessions through providing experiences where they use their self help skills and build a sense of agency.
• Creativity and Imagination: Through art, music, and imaginative play, we nurture each child's creativity, allowing them to express themselves and develop a love for self-expression. Resources and provocations that are open ended provide children the opportunity to engage with a wealth of material that are man made, natural and recycled. This encourages the childrens; understanding about the world they live in and the importance of caring for their environment
• Physical Development: Gross and fine motor skills are honed through age-appropriate experiences , ensuring that each child is physically ready for the challenges of school life.
• Emotional Resilience: Our program emphasizes emotional intelligence, helping children understand and manage their emotions, and fostering resilience in the face of new experiences. Providing times throughout the day where children work in large and small groups and times where they are able to work alone is important in the area of emotional intelligence
• Parental Involvement: We believe in a collaborative approach, involving parents in their child's learning journey through regular communication, events, and experiences. Our educators pride themselves on building relationships with the families at Belonging and into the wider community.
• Development: Our program focuses on the holistic development of each child, encompassing cognitive, language, social, emotional, and physical aspects. Through carefully planned experiences and learning areas, we aim to nurture well-rounded individuals who are ready for the next stage of their educational journey.
• Safe and Supportive Environment: Your child's safety is our top priority. Our preschool is equipped with secure facilities, and our staff are trained to create an environment where children feel comfortable, supported, and ready to explore.

We believe in fostering a foundation for lifelong learning through our exceptional early childhood education program. Our dedicated team of experienced educators is committed to providing a nurturing and stimulating environment that encourages curiosity, creativity, and social development in our youngest learners.

At Belonging Hornsby, we recognise the unique needs of each child and tailor our curriculum to support their individual growth and development. Our play-based approach emphasises hands-on, experiential learning, allowing children to explore the world around them in a safe and supportive setting.

The education team builds relationships with the children through interactions and participating in the child's day so they are able to understand the child holistically and provide experiences, resources and provocations to scaffold and guide the children's daily learning.

The education team is inclusive in their approach and provides resources and provocations in beautiful learning areas to encourage learning and interests through play. Open ended materials and spaces where all are welcome to be involved, play and learn are plenty through Belongings purpose built service.

Digital portfolios are created by the education team to capture the child's learning and make this visible in their documentation that is sent to parents throughout the year. Weekly programme summaries are sent through our digital platform to all families and individual observations added to childrens' portfolios weekly. At Belonging, we have living programs where information is added daily and displayed in each room which includes a large reflection diary where the education team captures the experiences with visible descriptions of the children's day. These are available in all rooms to view. Having all stakeholders be involved in the writing and display of the program is paramount and often the children's voices are added to make the learning as visible as possible to all who view the documented program.

Displays of children's work will be found dotted around Belonging Early Learning with accompanying documentation that captures the moment these masterpieces were built, sculpted, painted or drawn.

The indoor and outdoor environment is a key player in the program at Belonging Early Learning. The education team takes great care in setting resources and provocations for children learning. Positive aesthetics create a warm and homely feel where children feel comfortable to play and learn and educators are able to scaffold their learning throughout the day.

We welcome all new families to our beautiful Early Learning environment and look forward to being part of your child's journey.

We believe that each child, family and educator is a unique and valued individual. We value and honour diversity and accept and celebrate differences in other people. We believe each person and their family’s values, culture, beliefs, abilities and language should be acknowledged and accepted and reflected in the preschool’s environment.

We believe that education is transformative and share the children’s journey of self-discovery and change. We believe learning is enhanced in an environment where you feel you belong. We believe in nourishing the children’s and educator’s soul, creativity and imagination.

We believe that play is essential in the lives of young children. We believe play values the ideal of allowing children to “just be” and recognizes the importance of early childhood. We believe play should be fun, exciting, spontaneous, hands-on, stimulating, relaxing, comforting and challenging. We believe it is important to provide opportunities for children to experiment, discover, explore, create, investigate, practice theories, solve problems and express ideas with the support of other children and the educators. We believe in celebrating children’s play, discoveries and learning through reflection and meaningful documentation.

We believe children are capable, resourceful and valued members of the community. We believe children should be encouraged and supported to follow their learning interests with the support of the preschool community. We believe that play is essential to children’s learning and that children learn most effectively within an unhurried environment with meaningful, authentic experiences. We believe young children bring delight and make a valuable contribution to the community and to the world.

We believe children should be encouraged and supported to make their own decisions and choices and seek to actively develop positive problem-solving skills in a success-orientated environment. We believe in providing children with opportunities to discover and learn about themselves, others and the environment in an atmosphere that encourages harmonious and meaningful relationships.

We believe a sense of wonder, belonging to and love of the land, nature and animals are critical for young children to develop lifelong respectful, positive and proactive attitudes to our environment and to ensure our sustainable future. We believe in giving children time to play outdoors every day when possible. We believe in the rights of children to be able to feel the sun on their face, experience the natural rhythms of the seasons and breathe fresh air. We believe this is essential to everyone’s wellbeing and development. We believe in nurturing and protecting our most precious gifts – our children and our planet.

We believe in building a community that values children, respects their rights and gives them love. We believe in building a community that enables children to develop a readiness for the transition to school and more meaningful, a readiness for life.

We believe our community are the children, their families, the educators and all people and services. Belonging Early Learning has made connections with since our establishment. We believe as part of this community, we have a responsibility to our children and families to establish and maintain a sense of belonging and connection to the land and to our shared Aboriginal history and culture, to actively embrace reconciliation and spread this message.

We believe in providing acceptance and support to promote the children’s, families’ and educator’s personal growth and develop their positive self-esteem and confidence. We believe in developing respectful relationships with children, families, and staff through open and meaningful communication. We encourage and support children to interact peacefully and collaboratively, express empathy for other and actively challenge bias and promote social justice.

We believe in supporting and developing a partnership with families to share the nurturing and education of their children. We encourage each family to participate in the Belonging Early Learning community and support and welcome their interest and involvement.