Early Years
A Gentle Unfolding
Kindergarten is the beginning of the school journey, and provides the basis for future health and learning. Children, like the flowers in our gardens, gradually open outward to the world as they grow. Our Early Years environment lovingly tends to, nourishes and protects the gentle unfolding of each child in our care.
Our two Kindergartens for children aged between 4 and 6 years old are known as Linden and Peppercorn. Families joining the school are also offered the option of a year in Ring-a-Rosie, a separate room and garden for 3-year-old children. All of our Early Years spaces are warm and inviting, and the beautiful surroundings give young children confidence that the world is good and true.
Our Early Years play-based curriculum is founded on both the Australian Steiner Curriculum Framework and the Victorian Early Years Development Framework.
If tiny children have been able in their play to give up their whole loving being to the world around them, they will be able, in serious tasks of later life, to devote themselves with confidence and power to the service of the world.
Rudolf Steiner
On this page
Play – The Child’s Work
Free play is considered the most important work of the children in our Early Years program. Here, children have time to imagine and create, experiment and find solutions, and be protected from the interruptions of the broader, faster-paced world. Teachers support children to develop their capacity for independence and to follow their tasks through to completion.
Our mixed-age program allows the younger children to observe and learn from the older children, and the older children develop confidence through encouraging and leading the younger children.
Deep consideration is given to the physical environment of each Kindergarten, including simple tools and natural materials to support the developing needs of the children.
Linden & Peppercorn
Our combined Kinder-Prep spaces are known as Linden and Peppercorn. These mixed-age groups allow the children to blossom across two years in the same room with the same teacher. The consistent and predictable program for each day of the week is embedded within the natural cycle of the seasons and our First Nations pedagogy of ‘Place’.
Carried along in this rhythm, beautiful meals are baked, songs are sung, surroundings are explored, and rich social connections begin to take seed.
Each term we come together to honour the seasons and the turning rhythms of the year. Through the celebration of these festivals, the children experience wonder, joy, and a deepening sense of community.
Ring-a-Rosie
Nestled between Linden and Peppercorn, Ring-a-Rosie is our 3-year-old kindergarten, a cosy environment for young children to begin their journey towards independence.
Ring-a-Rosie is an optional year for families who have been offered a place in 4-year-old kinder. Places are offered for Kindergarten 18 months in advance and families can accept a place for their child in Ring-a-Rosie at this time.
Great care is taken with our youngest children. The group size is small and the program is unhurried, ensuring a gentle transition between home and school. Children are introduced to the rhythm of the older kindergartens, engaging in free imaginative play, song and movement, seasonal stories, preparing and sharing delicious meals, and rest time.
The Journey
Throughout our school, great care is given to supporting children during times of transition. We understand that the transition from home to school can be daunting.
Ring-a-Rosie provides a gentle, unhurried environment for children as they transition from home life to school life for the first time.
The Ring-a-Rosie room and garden are in turn connected to our Linden and Peppercorn (Kinder–Prep) spaces, so that children gain an awareness of their journey forward.
Our kinder program facilitates a smooth transition into the Primary Years. Prep children visit the Primary play areas regularly on walk days, and small groups of older children and siblings often return for short play times in the Early Years gardens.
A Day in Our Kindergartens
- Indoor free play
- Milling of grain, making and baking nutritious, organic, locally sourced, vegetarian food to share. With a ‘grain for each day’ the menu is simple, consistent and pleasing to all.
- Gathering flowers, setting tables, washing, packing away
- Weaving, pom-pom making, painting, construction, drawing, beeswax modelling, gardening, caring for the fish/chooks/guinea pigs/ducks/birds.
- Circle time with movement, speech and song
- Storytelling
- Rest
- Outdoor free play
2024 Early Years Session Times
| Age Group | Sessions & Days |
|---|---|
| Ring-a-Rosie | Mon/Tues/Wed | 8.30am-12.15pm Families are offered two sessions, with the option of extending until 3pm on Monday if the children are ready. |
| Kindergarten Children | Two half days | 8.20am-12.30pm | Tues/Wed/Friday One full day | 8.20am-3pm | Monday or Thursday |
| Prep Children | Three full days | 8.20am-3pm | Mon/Tues/Thurs Two half days | 8.20am-12.30pm | Wed/Fri |
| All food is provided for each day and full days include rest time after lunch. |
What happens in play is not premeditated but occurs out of the spur of the moment with a great deal of will power. The release of will through the play action is a source of joy for the child, a joy not linked to the achievement of specific purpose. The satisfaction of the child results from the process, the flow of the play, not the end result.
Renate Long-Breipohl