Four Year Old Program

Four Year Old Program

Sessions:
Clare Court Kindergarten has two 4 year old kindergarten rooms. It is highly recommended that parents enrol their child after their second birthday. Application forms are available through the City of Maribyrnong Council. They can be contacted on 03 9688 0200.

Sessions times available for 2008:

Koala Group - 12 hours per week

Monday - 8:30am - 12:30pm
Wednesday - 8:30am - 12:30pm
Thursday - 8:30am - 12:30pm

Echidna Group - 12 hours per week

Monday - 8:30am - 12:30pm
Wednesday - 8:30am - 12:30pm
Thursday - 8:30am - 12:30pm

Kangaroo Group - 10 hours per week

Tuesday - 8:30am - 1:30pm
Friday - 8:30am - 1:30pm

Platypus Group - 10 hours per week

Monday - 1:30pm - 4:30pm
Tuesday - 8:30am - 12:30pm
Thursday - 1:30pm - 4:30pm

Bilby Group - 10 hours per week

Monday - 1:10pm - 4:30pm
Wednesday - 1:10pm - 4:30pm
Thursday - 1:10pm - 4:30pm

The Bilby Group is new for 2008. The group will consist of 8 funded kindergarten places and up to 15 Extended Care places.

Program:
Kindergarten is often your child's first experience in a formal educational setting. It should be a happy and positive one for your child - where both parents and staff work together, and are mutually interested in your child's progress and achievements.

Children learn a variety of things at kindergarten. They will learn to:

mix with others, children and adults
to express themselves through language, movement and various art activities such as painting, pasting and playdough
to use tools such as brushes, scissors and staplers
to climb
to pretend
to sing
to listen
to express their needs and feelings
to explore
to experiment and to challenge themselves

The programs are designed and set by the Early Childhood Educator (teacher) in the following way:

Each teacher will form a philosophy based on the centre's vision and goals. This philosophy is based on the teachers' beliefs on how children learn. The teacher will then set group objectives and individual objectives for his / her program to attain. This program is set from specific objectives, which the teacher forms from observations of the children's abilities. The individual activities are then chosen to implement these objectives.

The teachers also program individually. That is, each child is programmed for on an individual basis. Each teacher will observe the children in the five different areas of development; physical, emotional, social, cognitive and language. Observations will be noted and recorded. From the observations the teachers will then set objectives. These objectives will be implemented using activities or learning experiences within the program.

The group programs are planned either fortnightly or weekly and are displayed on the appropriate board. Individual children's programs are confidential and parents need to make an appointment to access these.

Generally the children will spend some time indoors, as well as outdoors each session. They will also participate in snack time and a structured whole group mat session featuring stories and music experiences.