Dolphin Room: Four-year-old kindergarten
At the children’s centre, we offer a Long Day Kindergarten Program. This program is designed for 4 and 5 year old children the year prior to them attending school.
Our Dolphin group is the Four-Year-Old Kindergarten at our service. The Dolphin groups is a government approved Kindergarten classrooms with wooden furnishings. Our Kindergarten rooms are spacious with a range of experiences and resources for children to enjoy.
Our Kindergarten program runs over the four school terms, with working hours for the main teacher that reflect the school day. The service remains open during school holidays, with Diploma trained educators who continue to run the programs whilst the teachers are on annual leave.
Our Kindergarten teacher is a highly experienced educator and have worked in a variety of educational settings. Our Kindergarten Teachers have more than 20 years‘ experience in Early Childhood.
The Dolphin program is informed by the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework, Howard Gardners Multiple Intelligences theory, Bronfenbrenner and the Reggio Emilia approach. These influences create a holistic program that gives every child a chance to learn, be successful and achieve their fullest potential during the Kindergarten year.
We offer three specialist classes that rotate every three weeks - Music and Drama, Active Antics (PMP) and Auslan.
Our service offers a range of exciting initiatives for Four -Year-Old Kindergarten, that are all inclusive of our fee schedule. These activities and experiences include:
- One excursion per term - Chesterfield Farm, Kew Traffic, Local Fire station, Cranbourne Botanic Gardens to name a few.
- Book buddies - each Kindergarten child receives a set of books that are distributed throughout the year in regular intervals. Each book inspires a group project over the course of weeks for the children to engage in, and often complement the excursion theme for the term.
- Intergenerational Program - our grandparents are regularly invited to visit our Dolphin classroom to engage with children in learning and play.
- A range of incursions are offered - water safety, Responsible Pet Ownership program, reptile visits, music workshops, ocean animals and more
- School readiness program in Term four - Library reader, Pack a snack and more
- Nature explorers program on site - children go for regular bush walks and nature walks on our vast grounds
- Cooking program - our services boasts a fully functioning restaurant where the children can cook meals and eat together
- Camp fire program - children learn about fire safety and participate in camp fire days together with the Kindergarten staff
- Puppet program - a variety of puppets are used in the classroom to support literacy, language, social and emotional skills amongst the group.
- Information Technology - we have a range of ICT resources to use in the Kindergarten Program including Surface Pro devices, interactive whiteboard and a screen projector in the theatre room for presentations.
- Restaurant catered events - Mothers Day afternoon tea, Fathers Day afternoon tea and Four year old Graduation ceremony.
Each child has a portfolio that has observations, photographs, artwork and special memories that is added to over the year. This portfolio is presented to each child at our Graduation Ceremony in Term four. Graduation is a special day for teachers, children and families in our service, and we perform a range of songs in the theatre room - blue sky room, have photo slideshows and a catered afternoon tea.
Families are welcome to meet with the kinder teacher at the end of each term to discuss their child’s development and overall progress. The centre also holds a school readiness talk in the middle of the year to assist families in choosing the right school. We have a vast range of information and handouts, and our friendly educators are happy to help with any questions.
