Moorooka Early Learning Centre acknowledges the Yuggera people as the traditional custodians of the land on which we play and learn. Educators and children pay their respects to Elders past, present and emerging and make an ongoing commitment to authentically embedding Indigenous culture within our environment and programs.
We Embrace Play
At MELC we view children as naturally curious and capable learners, each with unique strengths, abilities, and interests. We acknowledge that to nurture these qualities, children must be provided with opportunities for deep, rich play experiences that cater to their own interests. Through creating flexible learning environments our educators support children to begin constructing an understanding of the world around them, celebrating each childs learning and discoveries. Our programs reflect both planned and spontaneous experiences that are framed with intentional teaching opportunities which are deliberate and meaningful. We believe that children will thrive when they are given the space to play and learn in a nurturing, language-rich and unhurried environment.
We Create Strong, Positive Relationships
Our educators strive to role model positive qualities that will facilitate nurturing relationships with both children and families. Kindness, compassion, empathy, love and friendship are core values that are reflected in every interaction and practice at MELC. We acknowledge families are the most valuable educator in a child’s life and strive to build meaningful connections that reflect their values within our service too. We recognize the level of trust that families place in our educators each day that their child is in our care and believe that each child’s wellbeing and welfare is paramount. Our educators take every step to protect children from harm, respect their dignity and privacy, and safeguard and promote every child’s wellbeing.
We Value Community
Children deserve to be surrounded by a community that encourages them to develop, grow and reach their individual potential. Community is more than a location, it is a network of relationships that assists each child to develop a sense of identity, belonging and security. Our children are supported to build a sense of identity within the local community by building connections to people and places beyond the walls of our service. Our team recognise that diversity contributes to the richness of our learning community and provides children with different perspectives of knowing and being; through learning about each families cultural values and beliefs, educators are better able to understand and reflect diversity in our pedagogy, curriculum and environment which empowers children and families to feel welcomed and valued.
We Support Risky Play
Risk is a part of play that supports children to develop lifelong skills and critical thinking strategies. We believe that our role is to manage risks with children rather than for children. Learning occurs when children have opportunities to analyse risk within their environment, with guidance from educators who utilise language that supports children to think critically about what is occurring. Our team acknowledge that one of the biggest risks we face is in not supporting children to develop skills to identify and reduce risk independently in environments that changing or unfamiliar.
We Advocate for Childhood.
Our educators believe childhood is an important time in which we learn who we are and how we fit into the world around us. It is a time to embrace the magic and wonder of different moments and experiences. The team at MELC have researched and reflected on our collective philosophies and experiences in a conscious effort to create an environment and atmosphere that we feel is conductive play and contributes to the long-term foundations of successful, compassionate and happy children. When given the freedom to express their sense of identity, children will grow socially, physically, emotionally, and cognitively throughout their time at Moorooka Early Learning Centre.
