About Us
Our program aims to provide an appropriate balance of teacher initiated and child initiated activities focused on interests, enjoyment and free choice.
We create, learn, and grow everyday!
You will see the children engaged in painting, pasting, puzzles, block building, dressing up, story reading, sand and water play, climbing, running and other outdoor activities.
Daily routines and transition times offer a sense of security and predictability and are designed to extend learning experiences, develop social skills and promote independence. Other valuable learning experiences embedded in our daily program include music, language, movement, games, science and special interest areas.
Whitfield Community Kindergarten is affiliated with the Crèche and Kindergarten Association of Queensland (“C&K”).
C&K is an umbrella organisation which has some centres of its own, and over 340 affiliated kindergartens, making it the largest, as well as the leading, non-government early childhood education provider in Queensland.
Being affiliated with C&K means the Kindy needs to comply with, and continually update standards in teacher training, equipment and facilities. Children who have attended C&K pre-schooling programs have been found, in a recent study*, to do better in Queensland’s new prep year than other children. (* Education Queensland funded study “Preparing for School Trials Progress Report 2” by the Queensland Early Childhood Consortium, 2004.)
Whitfield Community Kindergarten aims to provide safe, enriching, stimulating, play-based learning and development in response to the needs, interests and abilities of all children and their families. The program aims to build positive attitudes towards learning, to foster self-esteem, to develop social skills and to promote independence, to allow children to actively explore their environment, and to promote understanding of other cultures.
Our Kindergarten is run by a Management Committee, made up of volunteer parents or guardians, who are responsible for employing staff, maintaining the building, playground, and facilities, developing new facilities, and formulating and reviewing policies. The Committee is well supported by our wonderful teaching and administration staff, as well as the C&K team.
Volunteering to be on the parent management committee is something valuable and important you can do for the kindergarten, and ultimately for your child. The committee is elected in February each year at the Annual General Meeting. Any interested parent/guardian is encouraged to nominate for any of the positions.
We create, learn, and grow everyday!
As a community kindergarten, all parents are asked to make a contribution to the running of the Kindy, in the form of 3 hours’ maintenance duty per term (committee members don’t need to do this as well). As you can imagine, there are all sorts of jobs which need to be done to keep the Kindy running, from gardening, cleaning, general maintenance to covering new books & sewing. Job cards are put out on our maintenance board each year, have a look and let us know how you can help!
Whitfield Community Kindergarten was established in 1994 and the present building was completed in June 1995. The logo – cassowary and chick – was selected because the Whitfield Range was a known habitat for cassowaries.
Our Curriculum
The early childhood curriculum has been crafted by C&K educators with and alongside children, families and communities for over 110 years.
The curriculum in C&K early childhood centres is shaped by a strong set of shared values, commitments and visions that honour children.
A distinguishing feature of the curriculum in C&K centres is how educators skillfully partner with children and families to create caring and vibrant learning communities.
The purpose of Listening and Learning Together: C&K Curriculum Approach is to set out the values, commitments and visions for children’s learning that underpin curriculum in C&K centres. C&K seeks to support educators to bring these to life in ways that realise the expectations described in The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia ( EYLF ) and the Queensland Kindergarten Learning Guidelines ( QKLG ).
Teaching Team
At Whitfield Community Kindy we have three educators per group in each session.
Robyn Alexander
Nominated Supervisor, Co-Director & Co-Educational Leader
Karen Osborne
Teacher, Co-Director & Co-Educational Leader
Kate Kelly
Administration
Yuan Gao
Teacher
Judy Woodrow
Co-Educator
Emi Arakawa
Co-Educator
Mami Inai
Co-Educator
Stef Ahron Teacher
Teacher
Masumi Jones
Co-Educator
Caitlin O'Brien
Co-Educator
Staff Qualifications
Teachers
All of our teachers are three and four year trained specialists in early childhood education, in line with C&K requirements and requirements under the Child Care Act 2002 and the Child Care Regulation 2003. As early childhood teachers, they have specific training in the education of children in the early years. Still, they are also qualified to teach children up to the end of primary school (and could teach in Queensland primary schools if they chose, one of our teachers has recently come to us from the State School system).
They are trained specialists, but they are also registered teachers who maintain their yearly registration with the Queensland College of Teachers (formerly the Queensland Board of Teacher Registration). This is also in line with C&K and statutory requirements.
Assistants
Our assistants are also qualified professionals. The C&K requirement for assistants is that all assistants must have certificates in early childhood studies.
First Aid
Both teachers and assistants, are required to have an current senior first aid certificate and CPR qualification, the latter is updated annually.
Suitability Cards
In addition to their qualifications, and despite the fact that a police check is included as part of teacher registration, all of our staff, and executive committee members, are required to have positive notices for suitability cards, issued by the Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian.
