Adeona’s Early Childhood Development Programs
Creating a stable environment where children feel safe and supported to learn.
We believe in the need to have a deep understanding of the holistic child in order to create authentic and effective programs and practices. Through our responsive, respectful and reciprocal relationships we are able to create an environment across our 4 centres in QLD where childreen feel safe, secure and supported to learn. By allowing children to be agents in their own learning and have control over their environments, they develop a life-long love of learning.
Nature Play
At Adeona, we love to embrace nature. Each centre has a unique natural outdoor play space that allows children to explore nature and the local seasons throughout the year. We dig in real dirt, play in sand and bark, and always have water play available during our warmer months.
Our tall, well-established trees provide both shade and amazing learning opportunities, including visits from local wildlife and insects, as well as watching them flower and grow.
Vegetable and plant growing is part of our everyday practice and learning. Children are allowed to interact with plants through planting, watering and watching them grow. As the plants grow, we look for insect visitors, watch for flowers, and then celebrate if we grow fruit and vegetables that we can harvest and eat.
Care moments
With infants and toddlers, care forms the foundation of the curriculum. Positive, responsive relationships, with a primary carer, during these early stages of life, is key to a child’s sense of security and in turn their development. As such Adeona places high value on care moments and utilises these times to build and support secure attachments and relationships. Care moments involve times where a child’s physical needs are met such as, nappy changing, feeding and resting. Adeona approaches these moments as an opportunity to engage in one on one time where nurturance of the child’s whole self, in order to support secure relationships. Children are active participants during these care moments and the relationship comes ahead of the task. Our Educators are attentive and emotionally present making these times an unhurried and deliberate shared experience between child and carer.
Slow Pedagogy
Children’s lives can be quite busy. At Adeona, we believe in providing a space that is deliberate and unhurried. Slow pedagogy allows for periods of time where children can fully engage in play, which is led by children. Our days are not rushed and task-focused. Instead, we embrace the present moment and take time to observe and talk to children to understand their ideas, interests and developmental needs. During key parts of the day, Educators are present as play mentors and available to assist with resources and emotional support. This provides time and space for children to engage in deep thinking, investigation, and problem-solving. This is balanced with intentional teaching around skill development, including cooking, singing, gardening, clay work, and woodwork tinker tables.
Pre-kindergarten
This special age of not quite a toddler, not quite a preschooler is one during which great leaps in language and social development occurs. It is during this age that children start to find their place in the world and learn how to navigate the complex social and cultural elements of life. During this phase of development, the educators at Adeona focus on providing a secure base, for children to learn to negotiate social situations.
Our Pre-Kindergarten curriculum has a strong focus on building emotional capacity as children learn to play collaboratively. Here, we focus on creating environments that allow children to engage deeply in the flow of play, providing many opportunities for imaginative and exploratory learning. This is extremely important in building cognitive capacity and creativity, both of which are identified as essential skills for future prosperity.
During this stage of development our educators provide many opportunities for children to continue to develop their fine and gross motor skills through open ended activities and resources.
Children are encouraged to evolve their self-help skills to provide them with the agency to be active participants in their lives. This also builds resilience and a sense of identity. Developing this interdependence with others is a life long skill.
Kindergarten
All Adeona services operate a Queensland Government Approved Kindergarten program run by Bachelor qualified Early Childhood Teachers. The program requires children to attend for a minimum of 2 days a week and is an important step before commencing school. Eligible children can also access the 15 hours of Free Kindy per week for 40 weeks of the year.
Adeona believes children have the right to learn in a way that is natural and meaningful to them. As such we provide a environment where children can explore and grow, with a focus on building the social skills, emotional intelligence and learning dispositions that will help a child succeed not just at school but in life.
These skills include the ability to make friends, enter into play, develop a love of learning and curiosity, resilience, self confidence, persistence, becoming their authentic selves, ability to regulate emotions, a balance of interdependence and independence with peers and teachers as well as the ability to do things such as toilet independently, open and close food containers, wash hands, remove and put on clothing and shoes.
Children attending Kindergarten at Adeona will have access to a teacher for 7.5 hours a day, providing plenty of opportunities for one-on-one time as well as learning in small and large groups. The teacher embeds early literacy, numeracy, arts and sciences in the curriculum through play, exploration and enquiry.
As Adeona is a long-day care service, we offer longer hours than traditional kindergartens, allowing families the flexibility for work and other commitments. We provide the program all year round, meaning no holiday periods and more interaction and convenience for working families.
