Why Gowrie NSW?
For more than 80 years, Gowrie NSW has been at the forefront of early childhood and preschool education in Australia. Set within the context of innovative spaces alongside nurturing educators, our early education and preschool programs encourage children to grow to their full potential.
If you’re embarking on the journey of enrolling your child in preschool education, we invite you to learn more about our unique approach to preschool education.
Different Types of Preschools
There is no one type of preschool or preschool program in Australia. Some follow particular child care or educational philosophies such as Reggio Emilia. Others, called sessional preschools, may only run for a few hours a day.
At Gowrie NSW, some of our preschool programs are offered within our early education and care centres - the benefit of our preschool programs within our EEC's is that your child is accessing a readiness for school program, with the added bonus of long daycare hours.
We also have dedicated pre-schools that operate during school hours (usually 9 - 3). These are funded under the Start Strong Preschool' NSW State Government initiative. Most 3 - 5 year old children are able to access 15 hours of fee relief per week in the year leading up to school.
What is Play-Based Learning?
Play-based learning is a term you’ll hear a lot in relation to preschool services. The Early Years Learning Framework that underpins preschool curriculums is based upon the concept of play-based learning. And that’s because children of all ages really do learn through play.
At Gowrie NSW, our focus is on intentional play-based learning. That is, we use play as a tool to support the children’s learning. We create environments where play can thrive as the children make new discoveries and explore the world around them.
Indoor Learning Experiences
Our preschool classrooms use soft colours and natural materials to create warm and calming learning spaces. The children have access to puzzles, games, blocks, books, craft resources and more to enhance their learning activities. Imaginative play is actively encouraged and every child is respected for the unique interests and personality they bring to the classroom.
Outdoor Learning Experiences
The outdoor learning environment is central to our preschool program. Leafy and green, we provide the children with opportunities to learn about and engage with the natural environment. From sand and water play to climbing and swinging, the outdoors is the perfect playground for our play-based learning approach.
Group Learning Experiences
The benefit of preschool is that it gives your child the opportunity to interact with their peer group. We encourage the development of social skills, collaboration and communication by planning group learning activities. These might include musical activities such as dancing and singing, storytime or show and tell.
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What is the Difference Between Kindergarten and Preschool?
In NSW and ACT, Kindergarten is the first year of formal schooling. Preschool is the step before this and caters to children aged 3 to 5 years.
Both Kindergarten and Preschool provide children with an educational environment. The biggest difference is that Kindergarten is set with the formal structure of the education system. Preschool on the other hand is play-based and flexible to suit children’s individual needs.
It’s also important to differentiate between long daycare and preschool. Long daycare is available for infants from 6 weeks of age up until a child goes to school. While some long daycare centres offer a preschool program, this isn’t always the case.
Preschool programs are taught by a qualified teacher, which isn’t always the case in a long daycare setting.
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Preschool Fine Motor Activities
As adults, we take our fine motor skills for granted. We use them every day when we write with a pen, do up our buttons or use a knife and fork to eat a meal. These skills use the muscles in our hands and fingers to grip, grasp, pinch and hold.
Fine motor skills don’t just help children to learn how to write or hold a pair of scissors. They underpin their confidence and social skills, help with their hand-eye coordination and improve their physical awareness.
Children aren’t born with fine motor skills. They develop them over time. We focus on embedding fine motor activities for preschoolers into our program so their fine motor skills become like second nature. Some of the fine motor activities we incorporate into our preschool program include:
- Playing with playdough
- Threading beads onto a string
- Using tweezers to pick up small objects
- Serving food with tongs
- Digging in the sandpit
- Sorting small objects into different categories
- Cutting shapes with scissors
- Finger puppet play
These activities are fun for the children. They enjoy playing with playdough or the challenge of serving their own food at lunchtime. But the activities are also intentional and designed to give the children the skills they need to succeed in life.
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Preschool Maths Activities
At preschool, we start to teach children basic mathematical reasoning and maths concepts. While there is a cognitive and academic benefit to these types of maths games for toddlers, there’s more to maths activities than learning how to count.
The types of maths activities we do in preschool help the children to learn problem solving skills. They learn how to recognise patterns and develop spatial awareness. They learn important life skills, such as how to measure an object and the concept of making calculations to support decision making.
Loose parts play is one of the tools we use for our maths activities. The children collect objects, count them, sort them into categories, identify shapes and create patterns. Other maths activities include:
- Playing games involving dice
- Singing counting songs
- Cutting out shapes
- Measuring ingredients while cooking
- Lining up toys from shortest to tallest
- Reading counting books
These activities may not seem like typical maths activities but they are teaching the children early numeracy skills. The activities are chosen intentionally by the educators to support the children’s learning.
