our philosophy
St Catherine’s Early Education Centre will be inventive and unique to ensure that we, St Catherine’s community are distinctive within the Early Childhood Education field.
At St. Catherine’s Early Education Centre, we respectfully honour and acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we work, play, and learn. Our vision is to strengthen children’s awareness of our oldest living culture and to work toward reconciliation for future generations. We aim to embed respectful relationships and environments that promote and enhance cultural education with respect and trust.
At St. Catherine’s, we value and work under the National Quality Framework guiding principles and National Quality Standards. In delivering our Education and Care curriculum, we follow the principles, practices, and learning outcomes of the National Early Year’s Learning framework.
We embed the child-safe standards into everyday practice; we actively share knowledge so families and communities are informed and involved in promoting child safety and wellbeing. We are dedicated to promoting cultural safety for Aboriginal children, cultural safety for children from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds, and providing a safe environment for children with a disability.
OUr vision
To recognise the uniqueness of each child and the importance of play in the lives of children. We will, working in partnership with families, be committed to encouraging and supporting children to express their culture and enjoy their cultural rights while providing exceptional education and care within a welcoming environment that embraces diversity and the local community. We are an inclusive service deeply committed to social justice, inclusion, sustainability, and reconciliation.
We will respect the children’s rights to feel safe, secure, and comfortable in their environment before anything else. We will listen, respect, and respond to each child's feelings, needs, and interests.
As educators, we will work together to create a welcoming environment that the children want to be a part of.
We will treat all children equitably and give each child an opportunity to develop skills for life-long learning, focusing on each child’s strengths and interests.
We will create opportunities for children to build friendships, laugh, smile, jump in puddles, and encourage managed risks and challenges.
We will continually encourage children to develop an understanding of who they are and how they fit into the world and their roles in caring for the natural environment through our sustainability program.
By acknowledging and embracing children’s play, we support their emotional and social intelligence and build resilience, empathy, and gratitude.
We will continually encourage and support the children to develop strategies to self-regulate and manage their emotions and behaviour.
We will work in partnership with families to create honest and transparent relationships based on open communication, cooperation, and mutual respect for the reciprocal roles that each plays in the lives of the children.
We will encourage support and guide all families in an inclusive environment of wonder and awe.
We will include and work toward parents’ goals for their children and consider them valuable.
We, as a team, through our leadership and management, encourage educators to work collaboratively by sharing knowledge and experiences. We will promote the wellbeing of all, to create a mentally healthy community.
We will, as educators, work with the children to discover ideas and provide opportunities for learning through emergent intentional teaching and reflective practices formed on our play-based curriculum.
We provide an inclusive environment and aim to increase the children’s awareness and respect for cultural differences.
We support sustainable practices within St. Catherine’s Educational setting. We do this by role modeling and embedding this value into routines and experiences. Encouraging children to make informative choices to nurture their mindset and their awareness of the impact humans have on the natural environment.
We value belonging to the North Melbourne community and will involve our centre in the diverse cultures, communities, and events that make up the local area.
We will engage with our community and encourage the children, families, and staff to be part of the cultural events and celebrations.
We will expose the children to our community workers, teaching equality and showing that we can all be whatever we choose.
Imagine the possibilities