Into our Community
At Belong Early Learning, we highly value the connections and partnerships we build with our families and within the community. We know that children’s understanding of the world is built through their experiences, and thus we want to create as many opportunities for them to connect positively as we can! Excursions, incursions, contributions to community projects, charity work and other such events allow children opportunities to explore their local environment as they begin to understand the reciprocal nature of living in a society.
We aim to build, with these experiences, a sense in the child that the world is good, that they belong, and that they are a valued member of the community. Furthermore, we hope these connections to the world will encourage children to care for and respect the environments in which they live and play.
Sustainability
We believe in the importance of being as sustainable as we can as a service and teaching the children about the importance of sustainable living. Sustainability is a group effort at Belong Early Learning Cottage. We have a designated sustainability leader responsible for ensuring we are always looking for new and improved ways to be environmentally friendly and fun and educational experiences for children to explore the important concepts of reusing, recycling, and reinventing. We aim to continually find ways to reduce waste, monitor energy use, and reuse/reinvent resources as a service. We also connect with different environmental projects where relevant and appropriate.
We believe in designing our spaces to reflect the natural world as much as possible. We want to provide children with the opportunity to connect with nature and natural materials. Our resources and spaces are intentionally designed to allow the children opportunities to connect with nature around them, and flow freely between indoor and outdoor environments. This also ties back in with our Kitchen Garden Program, in which children will have access to their own garden where they can plant and grow different fruits, vegetables and herbs. Through this process, they will learn to nurture the natural environment, understand the cycle of produce, and explore the science of life cycles.
Sustainable play and resources, such as box construction and paper mâche, will be embedded into our programs to awaken the child’s natural curiosity and imagination. Children will have access to books and games which represent sustainable living and allow them to explore these concepts in a simple, familiar way. They will be encouraged to engage in sustainable practices around the services, taking from Maria Montessori’s practical living elements of curriculum.
Excursions and Incursions
At Belong Early Learning Cottage, our children will have opportunities to go out into the community and to also invite the community into their space, the service. Educators will design excursions to introduce children to different sights, events, and areas of the local community. These excursions will really allow the children to grow their own connection with their world, activating a sense of belonging and responsibility. All excursions will be guided by the National Quality Standards and will include vigilant risk assessment conducted before to ensure children’s safety.
We also love having incursions at our service! These can range from specialist shows for the children, such as animal exhibitions and science shows, to visits from important community members such as the local police or firefighters. As children become more familiar with their community, they become more confident beings and can move through their environments with awareness.
