Our Philosophy
I once asked a mother, “What is it you want for your child?”. She simply replied, “I just want him to be happy!”. This comment forms the basis for our philosophy. We believe in
LOVE OF LEARNING
Curious Minds believes in lifelong learning. We believe in providing a space where children are inspired and supported to learn, to grow and to explore new ideas, beliefs and values. We all learn at Curious Minds . For our children, we seek to inspire a love of learning, the joy of making new discoveries, and the desire to find out about and understand the world around them. We listen to their questions, appreciate their sense of wonder and embark upon learning journeys with them. For our educators, we challenge ourselves and engage on a path of continual learning and improvement. For our families and community, we forge reciprocal relationships where we all use our respective strengths, knowledge and wisdom to both teach and learn from each other.
HOMELY ENVIRONMENT
Curious Minds provides a ‘home away from home’ where children can play, explore and express themselves freely. It is a place where children are free to try new ideas, follow new interests, and simply enjoy themselves in the wonder and fun of being a child. The environment facilitates this, with natural and manmade materials to interact with, and spaces for loud discussions or nooks for quiet contemplation. It is an environment where children feel comfortable to explore who they are.
CONNECTIONS AND RELATIONSHIPS
Children thrive in an environment where they feel safe, secure and supported. For children to feel this, we at Curious Minds form genuine positive relationships with all our families, based on respect, trust and open communication. We view Curious Minds as a community to which we all belong and are encouraged to participate in. A child who is welcomed and appreciated is a child who will flourish and grow.
We provide myriad opportunities to develop the children’s social skills. These require practice, so educator’s role model positive peer interactions, and provide individual, small group and large group activities where children get to share, take turns, discuss and recognise the feelings and needs of others. They learn how to make and be friends!
SUSTAINABILIY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Curious Minds recognises the importance of forming a bond with the world we live in and appreciating its beauty and preciousness. We want to help children develop attitudes of respect towards our environment, and to help establish habits within Curious Minds that they can take home.
We encourage a culture of reduce, reuse, recycle, through engaging the children directly with practices such as collecting food scraps for compost bins and worm farms and growing our own produce in vegetable gardens. We provide natural materials and spaces for the children to explore, stimulating their senses and letting them develop a sense of wonder for the world round about them.
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
We are all different; we are all the same. Curious Minds promotes positive self-esteem amongst our children, and appreciates the strengths and differences of others. We introduce children to the diversity of our local community, as well as the multicultural country in which we live, through music, language and play opening their eyes to the possibilities the world has to offer.
“Most importantly, we want your child to be happy!”
We welcome your involvement to review and contribute your ideas to our philosophy and program. We acknowledge the role of families and their views of best practice at home and at the centre. Curious Minds is committed to reflect all families’ individual beliefs and personal philosophies of child care.