Jolly Frog Kindergarten

1. Jolly Frog Kindergarten • General Information • Our Philosophy • Staff Qualifications • Early Years Learning Framework • Photo Gallery 5 Howe Street Westmead (02) 9635 6149 • Contact Us • Map Location Director: Eileen Byrnes

2. General Information • Welcome Welcome to the Jolly Frog Private Kindergarten web site.Thank you for taking the time to consider our service. You are welcome to visit our centre. The Jolly Frog Kindergarten has been established and offering a service to the local community since 1959. Eileen Byrnes, the Director and head educator of Jolly frog Kindergarten has managed this service for 36 years. Jolly Frog Kindergarten is a privately owned and highly accredited service, in a beautiful garden setting with playgrounds and equipment that are continually updated to meet current standards of care.We are a licensed Long Day Care / Pre-School service offering short and longer day options.We cater for 39 children per day aged 2 to 6 years. • Operating Hours Our hours of operation are from 8am to 4pm - Monday to Friday. We have two set times to choose from: 9am – 3pm or 8am – 4pm. • Childcare Assistance We provide access to Childcare Assistance. Parents of children attending may be eligible for the Child Care Benefit from the Federal Government based on those client’s individual incomes. Application Forms are available from Centrelink for eligible parents should financial assistance of this kind be required.

3. Our Philosophy • At the Jolly Frog Kindergarten, we believe that children should be allowed to remain children in a happy, harmonious, relaxed and accepting atmosphere. They should feel loved as well as cared for in a natural home-like environment with an outdoor emphasis. We believe children learn best in a playing or ‘hands on’ situation, that it is important to teach them to appreciate simple pleasures, and have a healthy curiosity, to engage this curiosity and develop a love of learning. At the Jolly Frog Kindergarten, children are provided with a program to promote experiences for wholesome, cognitive, physical, emotional, social and moral outcomes. • We believe children respond well to flexible, consistent routines and offer nurturing guidance to help children feel secure and independent; allowing time to finish an activity and encouraging them to participate in decision making. We encourage spontaneous learning; extending the children’s thinking processes, extending play with extra resources and ideas for play with reference books and pictures. • Because we live in a society where children are strongly affected by outside influences, media or peer pressure; we encourage our children to ask questions; challenging them to think for themselves, to search for their own answers, to think before blindly accepting, to stand up for their own beliefs and rights and for those of others. • We aim for simplicity in all of our communications; consulting with parents verbally to monitor their concerns and keep them informed, and keeping thoughtful, comprehensive records of their child’s progress. We are aware that parents want their own child to be liked if not loved, to be happy in the centre, well cared for, protected from harm and educated in basic skills for school readiness. We are committed to making all of this happen by caring for each child as an individual, teaching them to appreciate simple pleasures, reinforcing and encouraging respect for their parents, friends, other cultures, and for their teachers. • We are aware that all children are different; we celebrate this individuality providing activities that consider the children’s differing backgrounds, ages and stages of development. We provide events, activities and materials to help all of our attending children understand, tolerate, celebrate, respect and accept these different perspectives. We believe that our own friendly acceptance of each child’s personality, gender, behavioural stage, culture and ethnicity is of paramount importance when teaching all of the above. We use our grounds to encourage a love of nature and support active gross motor play. Our aim is to provide experiences that will prepare children for the real world, to make wise and useful decisions, to form lasting friendships, to respect and cooperate with their teachers, families, friends and enjoy their school years. • ...

4. Staff Qualifications In keeping with child : staff ratios, we have 5 permanent full-time staff which include: • 1 Early Childhood Teacher • 2 Diploma in Children’s Services • 2 Certificate III in Children’s Services • And all staff hold current First Aid Certificates. • Our Director and staff are all experienced and qualified, our mix of qualifications is extensive and continually updated. Our staff’s training also includes courses in Anaphylaxis, Epilepsy, Child Protection, Food and Nutrition, Occupational Health and Safety, and Learning Second Languages. • Our staff are dedicated and passionate about their work, all enjoy working with children, almost all have raised children of their own and know full well how precious our children are and how difficult it is to leave a child with strangers. We believe the different ages, the mix of personalities, training and cultures of our staff are part of the magic that helps make our centre such a happy place for us to work, for our children’s families to visit and for our attending children. • We occasionally invite other educators into the centre such as musicians, nurses, dentists or science teachers, police, ambulance and fire officers, in order to extend children’s skills and learning.

5. Early Years Learning Framework Our program for the children’s education uses the most recent Early Years Learning Framework introduced by the Federal Government, we also incorporate resources and teaching skills from our different experiences with the teaching profession we have gained over the years. We ask and encourage our children’s parents to be involved in their child’s learning and incorporate their suggestions in our daily activities. We use the children’s emerging skills and knowledge as a platform to extend their learning and impart a sense of pride in their own ability.We take time to teach the children to care for their own belongings and for those of others, to be considerate of each other’s feelings, to listen and respond to others, to share and wait politely for a chance to have a turn, to respond politely to adults and friends in the centre and to greet one another in a friendly and cooperative manner. We use simple and complex activities to encourage children’s thinking skills such as counting and sorting, matching, pre-reading and pre-writing activities, cooking, natural science, gardening, as well as the usual art, craft, drama, story telling, music and dance, and gross motor activities.We encourage the children to help their teachers to set up activities and clear away when finished, to help care for the younger smaller children so that they become socially able, responsible and caring.We ask the children to help establish rules of play, and discuss ways to make each day a happy and helpful experience for every child because children are more inclined to follow rules that they have helped put in place. The Early Years Learning Framework describes childhood as a time of belonging, being and becoming. • Belonging is the basis for living a fulfilling life. Children feel they belong because of the relationships they have with their family, community, culture and place. • Being is about living here and now. Childhood is a special time in life and children need time to just ‘be’ - time to play, try new things and have fun. • Becoming is about the learning and development that young children experience. Children start to form their sense of identity from an early age, which shapes the type of adult they will become. • Learning Outcomes: 1. A strong sense of their identity. 2. Connections with their world. 3. A strong sense of wellbeing. 4. Confidence and involvement in their learning. 5. Effective communication skills.

6. Photo Gallery

7. Contact Us Jolly Frog Kindergarten • Address: 5 Howe Street Westmead NSW 2145 • Phone: (02) 9635 6149 • E-mail:ehjollyfrog@optusnet.com.au

8. Map Location • We are located in the Holroyd Municipality of the Western Suburbs of Sydney. • 5 Howe Street Westmead NSW 2145. • Our kindergarten is 10 minutes walk from Westmead Station and 15 minutes walk from Westmead Hospital. • We offer a home like, loving and welcoming atmosphere, our children’s play rooms are well appointed, light, airy and clean. Our play grounds are set in a beautiful, shady garden that backs on to parkland. We are situated in a quiet street away from the noise and pollution of heavy traffic.