Providing quality education and care for the community

Nara Community Early Learning Centre (established in 1989) is a not-for-profit and community focused early learning service in Preston. Nara provides care for 68 children each day, from 6 month old babies up to school-ready kids. Nara is overseen by a committee of management.

curriculum

Naraʼs curriculum is the way we collaborate with children, families and the community. It includes what we do, how we do it and how we think about what we do. Our curriculum is based on the combination of our Philosophy, our experiences and our professional knowledge.

Our curriculum aligns with The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia, ‘Belonging, Being and Becoming’ (2022). The framework supports us to extend and enrich all children's learning, development and wellbeing and ensure children are supported, celebrated, and connected to their community.

At Nara we apply this framework by:

providing a developmental and educational program which caters for and is responsive to each childʼs individual needs, abilities, strengths, knowledge, interests, and culture
working in partnership with families to gather a comprehensive and holistic view of each child
encouraging children to be responsible for their own learning through choices in experiences, interests and routine
using conversations, actions and play as the basis for teaching
promoting their independence and self-help skills by assisting within the routine and involving the children in interest-based projects
incorporating routines and everyday events into the curriculum as opportunities for learning
applying strong intentional teaching practices to provide the children with an authentic and meaningful learning environment
including indoor and outdoor learning experiences, quiet and active times, individual, small group and large group times, group and individual interests, and flexibility to allow for spontaneity and the unexpected
having ongoing conversations with families about their child’s learning and development
sensitively discussing with families any areas of concern about their child’s development and supporting follow-up with allied health professionals , e.g. speech therapy.

How we share our curriculum with parents

At Nara our educators use the Story Park app to help plan our program and to share what we’re learning with families. Families can use Story Park to provide feedback and suggestions.

Families can also follow along with their child’s learning by accessing a hard copy of the room’s ongoing curriculum. Parents are encouraged to read the portfolio and are welcome to participate by providing feedback. We invite you to have input into program development in relation to your child's likes, dislikes, life events, culture, music, and storytelling.