_____________________________________

_____________________________________

_____________________________________

Kelly Wilson

Tahlia Grandison

2019

Netherby Kindergarten is situated on the Waite Campus of the University of Adelaide. The majority of NetherbyKindergarten children also attend long day care either at Waite Campus Children’s Centre or other Early Learning Centerswithin the local area. The children live across Adelaide and many parents work or study on the campus or nearby.Playgroup is offered on Friday mornings from 9.30-11.30. Playgroup is a great way for upcoming kindergarten families todevelop their sense of belonging, building relationships with educators and other families and developing a sense ofcommunity. Children's attendance is negotiated with the director to best accommodate working families and otherchildcare arrangements. Children enrol in various schools within the local area and inviting teachers from each school tovisit kindergarten has successfully supported children as they transition to school.

The principles of the Reggio Emilia Schools are incorporated into the teaching practice at Netherby Kindergarten. Childrenare seen as competent powerful learners. Children’s voice is highly valued, and listening to children informs thecurriculum. The environment is considered the “third teacher” and consequently the educators carefully and thoughtfullyset the environment to provoke opportunities for the children to explore, discover, question, problem solve, collaborate andcommunicate in a variety of ways.

We place a high value on outdoor learning, which has lead to the introduction of our Bush Kindy program as well asutilising the reserve located next to the kindergarten for nature play opportunities. Outdoor learning environments offer aunique opportunity for all children and educators to stretch to their full potential. Providing the opportunity for children toengage in open-ended, diverse, regular and sustained periods of time in the outdoors. This allowing children time to havedeeper conversations around nature, demonstrating a greater level of respect for the environment and allowing for moremeaningful learning opportunities around environmental issues and sustainability. A time to explore, discover andinvestigate in an environment that fosters inspiration, curiosity, creativity and spontaneity. Risk and failures are viewed aspositive learning experiences and this learning can help children develop life skills including resilience and problemsolving.

We have further plans develop this area in 2020 include a community vegetable garden and fruit trees.

2019 was a wonderful year for the Netherby kindergarten staff, students and their families. The learning and growth thechildren have demonstrated throughout their year at kindergarten has been a pleasure to watch. Not only have thechildren shown improvement in their literacy and numeracy skills, but they have strengthened and developed a broadrange of social and emotional skills over the course of the year. The play based program encourages students to usecreative thinking, work cooperatively and develop their problem solving skills. Each student had a folder which grewthroughout the year to include learning goals, art work and photos of their kindergarten experiences. They contributed athreading to the belonging tree, developed friendships and strengthened their relationships with the kindy staff. They alsolearned about practicing self-regulation through meditation and yoga with Rainbow Kids in preparation for starting school.The Netherby Kindergarten philosophy states that they create an environment where the magic of childhood is preserved,but it is truly more than that. Netherby Kindy is a place where the magic of childhood is embraced, celebrated andmultiplied though the wonderful experiences and opportunities the students are able to enjoy there. This is thanks to theincredibly dedicated, enthusiastic and caring staff we are so lucky to have caring for our children at Netherby Kindy. Theyconsistently go above and beyond to create a beautiful, safe and nurturing environment that develops the children’sconfidence, independence, knowledge and understanding of their world. On behalf of the Netherby KindergartenGoverning Council I would like to thank the incredible kindy educators for giving our children a magical year at Netherby.

2019 saw a continued approach to all staff contributing to our site QIP. We further extended our opportunities to reflect onour knowledge and plan for the future. We utilised our Pupil Free days to engage in profession dialogue which lead to alleducators consolidating their understandings and provided times to seek clarification and make improvements together.This year we had 3 main focus goals and this lead to deeper understandings and opportunities to implement successfully.

QA1- We focused on each child's learning and development , Using assessment as part of an ongoing cycle ofobservation, analysis, documentation, planning and reflection. This saw successful changes to the way we collect data oneach child and the way we use this information for future planning and distance traveled by all the children. Informationfrom parents was used to create Individual learning plans and individual leaning goals for each child. We continued withour community values wall which shaped future curriculum directions. Educators continued to use the Literacy andNumeracy Indicators to design programs that extend all children’s learning and development. Spontaneous and childinitiated experiences complimented our child focused emergent curriculum. We continued with our Learning, Design,Assessment and Reflection (LDAR) project with a focus around around mark making. Each child was provided with ascrap book where they could add their own mark making. We used meaningful experiences within the outdoors toenhance children;s marking making abilities and willingness to have a go at a challenging task. We used pedagogicaldocumentation to record our nature Play learning journey.

QA2- Each child's wellbeing is supported developing their sense of belonging and feeling safe. Our routine is now ondisplay for the children to visually see. The routine is communicated during our morning group time, allowing all childrento visually see and hear what will be happening daily. Using the visuals has opened up opportunities for children to seekclarification, ask questions if needed and gain prior warning before transition times. Children are encouraged to helpeducators move the arrow down to the upcoming part of the day. This simple change saw children being visuallysupported in transition times and understanding of the kindergarten routine. building their sense of belonging, ownershipand agency. This year we ensured to included more yoga and mindfulness opportunities into the daily routine. We utilisedconnections with the Childcare Centre to engage in extended learning experiences together such as using the same yogateacher who most children are already familiar with, planning for Campfire Tuesday's has allowed us to build our sense ofcommunity and opportunities for shared learning.

QA6- Improved collaborative partnerships with parents, families and the community. We continued to use a variety ofcommunication methods effectively including daily dialogue, emails, notice boards and Facebook. As reviewed by theGoverning Council a communication app is not needed or a desire at this time. Snap shots of the children's learning werepresent in children's individual portfolios which were sent home for shared learning and optional feedback at the end ofTerm 2. Our program format that is emailed to families was modified to ensure it was easily to read and not too muchinformation all at once. Parent involvement in the program was evident through multiple gardening, cooking, story time,and music experiences as well as several volunteers on our excursions. Governing Council providing feedback that theseforms of communication is more than enough and no more changes are needed.

Many families travel overseas for extended periods of time throughout the year.

29

2019 saw a lower enrolment number, this was due to a variety of reasons. Lower than expected international students thatwork or study at the Waite Campus. Increase in children staying at Early Learning Centers for the longer hours of care thatfamilies require, lower than normal Childcare enrolments at Waite Campus Childcare Centre. Families not understandingthe enrolment procedure, most families think they HAVE to attend their local kindergarten. They are not aware they have achoice if spaces are available in the round 2 of Preschool offers.

We continue to have a growing number of school destinations. The percentage of children attending individual schoolschanges from year to year with both Mitcham Primary 20% and Highgate School 28% attracting higher numbers this year.

Quality of teaching and learning- Families that completed the survey overall believe their child receives high qualityteaching at preschool with 75% strongly agreeing, supporting comments included " The teaching and learning at thisPreschool is of a very high standard and I am so thrilled that my daughter is able to experience this as her first formal partof her education", The teachers are enthusiastic and build fabulous relationships with the children. This results in anamazing learning environment where children are encouraged to try new things".

Support and learning- Families were once again very positive with very high percentages with strongly agreeing with thesupport we provide. Comments from the survey include "The staff are amazing at supporting children through the learningprocess. They completely understand my child an go out of their way to ensure he is comfortable and not overwhelmedby the changing environment. I have seen a huge change in my child's confidence since he started at Netherby"

Relationships and communication- 71% of families surveyed feel welcome at this preschool, 71% feel comfortable toapproach teachers to talk about children's progress and 86% feel if they had concerns or suggestions, that the preschoolwould respond appropriately. Supporting comments include " All preschool staff treat all children and adults with greatrespect. they really listen to my child in her daily interactions and have built positive relationships with myself. they have avery strong image of the child which is a joy to see everyday in their daily interactions with the children."

Leadership and Decision Making- Families are confident in the way the preschool is managed and 86% of families believethere is effective educational leadership within the preschool. Families provided comments including " Communication isfantastic.

All required screenings are up to date.

$13,110

nil

$350,612.35

$4701.50

Theliteracy

andnu

meracyindicators

were

continuo

uslyused

toassess,plan

andob

serveall

children.

Experiencesprovided

supp

ortchildren'ssenseof

agen

cyde

veloping

theirliteracy

and

numeracyskillsinavarie

tyof

mea

ning

fulw

ays.S

taffexplicitlyan

dinciden

tally

interactedwith

childrenat

theseexpe

riences.

One

-on-on

esupp

ortw

asallocatedto

specificchildrenwith

diag

nosedspecialneed

son

aweekly

basis.Durin

gthesesessions

amem

ber

ofstaffw

orked

throug

haprog

ram,de

sign

edby

aspee

chpa

tholog

ist,to

supp

ortchildrenintheirindividua

lgoals.prog

ramswere

upda

tedwhen

need

ed.