Sunkids Children’s Centres Curriculum
Sunkids Children’s Centres care aim is to provide early years education that places the child, their unique circumstances and innate potential, at the centre of decisions and planning. Our curriculum is a response to the increasingly emerging knowledge in our society around who children are and how they learn. Within our programs, children have moved beyond traditional and marginalised developmental domains, to be celebrated as a whole being who brings potential, curiosity and interest in constructing their own learning. The Sunkids Children’s Centres Curriculum draws on best practice from around the world in early childhood education and will continue to evolve as research continues to advance and we are responsive to the changing needs of families, communities and society. Let us share with you the six defining areas of Sunkids Children’s Centres Curriculum.
Emergent Curriculum
Emergent Curriculum describes the kind of curriculum that evolves when exploring something of interest and personally meaningful to children. Capitalising on these ‘teachable moments’ brings together the child’s motivation around their interest and the teacher’s knowledge of children’s development and learning processes. In this way, the curriculum responds to optimal opportunities for learning and honours the children’s input rather than focusing on pre-set themes or topics driven by the teacher.
The Learning Enviroment
Sunkids places significant emphasis on the learning spaces provided for children in our centres. We acknowledge that everything in the world is education to young children, and therefore, believe the environment must; allow children to engage in activities of their own choosing, spark curiosity and inquiry, invite quiet, alone time for reflection as well as shared project opportunities, utilise open-ended flexible materials, reflect elements of the ‘real world’ and honour children’s learning processes.
The Early Years Learning Framework
The Early Years Learning Framework is a holistic outlook on development.
Our Curriculum include: Sense of Self & Others, Health & Wellbeing, Investigation & Discovery, Communication, Contribution & Service, and, Creative Expression.
These areas honour the whole development occurring in young children as each encompasses; skills, knowledge, dispositions and virtues, as well as engaging children’s ‘multiple intelligences’.
Sunkids Edu-care Tools
Sunkids Educators are trained in specialised educational methods and theories that support them in achieving Sunkids vision for young children.
A ‘Virtues approach’ focuses Educators interaction with children on recognising their potential and bringing out the very best in each child. It is a positive approach to character development in young children with a focus on ‘prevention’, as opposed to ‘management’ of behaviour.
An understanding of the theory of ‘Multiple Intelligences’ is another tool employed by staff to discover different ways of reaching the children in our care and catering to their various learning styles.
Program Strategy
Sunkids approaches and methods for program planning and documentation support our philosophical perspective and emergent style of curriculum. Our emphasis on curriculum arising naturally from interaction with the children, translates to methods for planning and documenting that are flexible in order to convey spontaneous experiences, and highly responsive, to evolve learning opportunities when children are motivated around a topic.
Partner & Portfolios
We are committed to establishing close, working relationships with parents to honour their primary role as the first and foremost educators of their child. A personal portfolio for each child becomes the record of this co-educational process, with educators and parents contributing to a collection of observations, photos, children’s work, learning stories and other samples of children’s emerging learning and development.