HEATHDENE PRESCHOOL
  • Home
  • About Heathdene
    • Welcome
    • Our Vision Statement
    • Our Philosophy
    • Learning Environment
    • Our Team
    • H.E.L.P. - Heathdene Early Learning Program
    • Our Framework
  • Operational Information
  • Heathdene DVD
  • What's Happening
  • Parent Login
    • Operation Christmas Child
    • Mothers Day 2017 DVD
    • Learning Through Play DVD
    • Our Philosophy DVD
    • Heathdene in 50 Words DVD
    • FREE Speech Screener
    • Newsletters
    • Rainbow Fish Class
    • Seahorse Class
    • Turtles Class
    • Dolphin Class
    • Starfish Class
  • Our Community - Acknowledgements
  • Heathcote Engadine Baptist Church
  • Links
    • Sue Larkey's Top 10 Tips for Toilet Training
    • Autism Awareness Video
    • Information from our local schools
  • Contact Us
                                                 
1181 Old Princes Hwy
Engadine NSW 2233
(02) 9520 5614

Our Framework - the NQF NQS EYLF



The NQF

The National Quality Framework

Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) are regarded as the first step in the process of education, which is fundamental to the strength of any country’s social wellbeing and economic future. It is an accepted fact that the early years of childhood are a critical period in every child’s life. The relationships, experiences and environment a child is exposed to in these early years are essential to their long term health, development, learning and wellbeing. (Rosback & Wilson 2012 p.5)

Recent government initiatives focus attention on the provision of services for young children and families, calling for the raising of standards to ensure the delivery of consistent, accessible, high quality services across the country.

The National Quality Framework came into operation at the beginning of 2012 with key requirements being phased in over time. Qualification requirements, educator-to-child ratios and other key staffing arrangements will be phased in between 2012 and 2020. The National Quality Framework incorporates the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF), the National Quality Standard (NQS) and the associated regulatory system. It is important to remember that preschools have not undertaken an assessment and rating process before and initially can present some challenges. It is also important to remember that, although the Standard applies to all services covered by the National Quality Framework, our service and setting is unique in many ways. The NQS aims for Heathdene to think about our unique circumstances, the strengths and the challenges and about our practices to help us to meet the Standards. As part of this process of self assessment a Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) is required and it is a document that needs to be reviewed annually. It is used on an ongoing basis in discussions in staff meetings to further improve our service. All educators and staff are involved in the assessment.


The NQS

The National Quality Standard

The National Quality Standard sets a new benchmark for quality education and care services. It gives families a better understanding of a quality service. This enables families to make informed decisions about the services providing education and care to their child.

The National Quality Standard brings together seven quality areas that are important to outcomes for children.

QA1     Educational program and practice

QA2     Children’s health and safety  

QA3     Physical environment

QA4     Staffing arrangements

QA5     Relationships with children

QA6     Collaborative partnerships with families and communities

QA7     Leadership and service management

Under the National Quality Standard, all services must prepare a Quality Improvement Plan annually that includes a self-assessment of the quality of the practices of the service against the National Quality Standard and the National Regulations. Our Quality Improvement Plan is located in the preschool front office.




Rating and Assessment Process

Services will be assessed and rated against each of the seven quality areas of the National Quality Standard and the National Regulations. They will also be given an overall rating. The rating and assessment process aims to drive continuous quality improvement at services and provide families with better information for making choices about their children’s education and care.



EYLF

Early Years Learning Framework

The Early Years Learning Framework is the national curriculum of Early Childhood Education. The aim of this framework is to extend and enrich children’s learning with a strong emphasis on play-based learning from birth to five years and through the transition to school. The Early Years Learning Framework was developed to assist educators to provide young children with opportunities to maximise their potential and develop a foundation for future success in learning. Our preschool uses the EYLF to reflect on our practices and guide our program.

Fundamental to the Early Years Learning Framework is a view of children’s lives as characterised by belonging, being and becoming. The curriculum has five learning outcomes that are designed to capture the integrated and complex learning and development of all children across the birth to five-age range. The practice of the Early Years Learning Framework involves educators drawing on a rich repertoire of educational practices to promote children’s learning by:

     Being responsive to children

     Planning and implementing learning through play

     Intentional teaching

     Creating physical and social learning environments that have a positive impact on children’s learning

     Valuing the cultural and social contexts of children and their families

     Providing for continuity in experiences and enabling children to have successful transitions

     Assessing and monitoring children’s learning to inform provision and to support children in achieving learning outcomes

 

Outcome 1: Children have a strong sense of identity

     Children feel safe, secure and supported

     Children develop their emerging autonomy, inter-dependence, resilience and sense of agency

     Children develop knowledgeable and confident identities

     Children learn to interact in relation to others with care, empathy and respect

Outcome 2: Children are connected to and contribute to their world

     Children develop a sense of belonging to groups and communities and an understanding of the reciprocal rights and

     responsibilities necessary for active community participation

     Children respond to diversity with respect

     Children become aware of fairness

     Children become socially responsible and show respect for the environment

Outcome 3: Children have a strong sense of wellbeing

     Children become strong in their social and emotional wellbeing

     Children take increasing responsibility for their own health and physical wellbeing

Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners

     Children develop disposition for learning such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm,

     persistence, imagination and reflexivity.

     Children develop a range of skills and processes such as problem solving, inquiry, experimentation, hypothesising

     researching and investigating.

     Children transfer and adapt what they have learned from one contact to another

     Children resource their own learning through connecting with people, place, technologies and natural and processed

     materials

Outcome 5: Children are effective learners

     Children interact verbally and non-verbally with others for a range of purposes

     Children engage with a range of texts and gain meaning from these texts

     Children express ideas and made meaning using a range of media

     Children begin to understand how symbols and patter systems work

     Children use information and communication technologies to access information, investigate ideas and represent their

     thinking



You will see these outcomes reflected in the documentation of the work that the children do at preschool.

Underpinning the Framework are 5 Principles:

     Secure, respectful and reciprocal relationships

     Partnerships

     High Expectations and Equity

     Respect for Diversity

     Ongoing Learning and Reflective Practice.

 

Belonging, Being, Becoming

A VISION FOR CHILDREN’S LEARNING

All children experience learning that is engaging and builds success for life.

Fundamental to the Framework is a view of children’s lives as characterised by belonging, being and becoming. From before birth children are connected to family, community, culture and place. The earliest development and learning takes place through these relationships, particularly within families, who are children’s first and most influential educators. As children participate in everyday life, they develop interests and construct their own identities and understandings of the world.

BELONGING

Experiencing belonging – knowing where and with whom you belong – is integral to human existence. Children belong first to a family, a cultural group, a neighbourhood and a wider community. Belonging acknowledges children’s interdependence with others and the basis of relationships in defining identities. In early childhood, and throughout life, relationships are crucial to a sense of belonging. Belonging is central to being and becoming in that it shapes who children are and who they can become.

     “You belong in your house with your family.” – Dong

BEING

Childhood is a time to be, to seek and make meaning of the world.

     “If you want to be a mermaid you can imagine.” – Jazmine

“When children play they are showing what they have learned and what they are trying to understand.” Being recognises the significance of the here and now in children’s lives. It is about the present and them knowing themselves, building and maintaining relationships with others, engaging with life’s joys and complexities, and meeting challenges in everyday life. The early childhood years are not solely preparation for the future but also about the present.

BECOMING

Children’s identities, knowledge, understandings, capacities, skills and relationships change during childhood. They are shaped by many different events and circumstances. Becoming reflects this process of rapid and significant change that occurs in the early years as young children learn and grow. It emphasises learning to participate fully and actively in society.

     “When you can keep planting plants you become a gardener.” – Olivia

(Belonging, Being & Becoming, the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia)




Please go to our Links page if you would like any more information on the NQF, the NQS or the EYLF.
Picture







© 2018 Heathdene Preschool