Learning

Learning
Mary Jones ELC

Our Mary Jones Early Learning Centre offers an inclusive play-based program where children learn by actively engaging, participating and exploring within a safe environment.

By design our program is a collaborative approach between the child, the family and the Centre staff, who all have input into the program and its policies. The children’s interests are reflected in the program so that the learning inspires them and meets their individual needs.

Based on thorough research, our School has chosen to draw on a range of perspectives to offer a proven program that truly reflects our inclusive, caring philosophy and offers the best program possible. Underpinning all our planning is the Mentone Grammar Teaching and Learning Framework, the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework and the National Early Years Learning and Development Framework.

“We encourage confident, happy children who are eager to arrive each day to see their teachers and to connect with the endless learning, fun and friendship on offer. We aim to challenge all our students by inspiring them to be active learners and thinkers, full of curiosity about the world around them. ”

Libby Chislett, ELC Director

Our 3-Year-Old and 4-Year-Old programs consist of multiple modes of learning:

Inquiry based learning where the child initiates the learning, explores, experiments and analyses and is supported in this endeavour by the teacher.
Intentional teaching which is teacher driven and initiated. Factual learning is imparted as part of the curriculum, and the teacher plans for this to occur.
Skill based learning where children’s skill development can be accurately planned for and evaluated.

The Principles and Practices of the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia are founded on the belief that:

Children are capable and competent.
Children actively construct their own learning.
Learning is dynamic, complex and holistic.
Children have agency. They have capacities and rights to initiate and lead learning and be an active participant and decision maker in matters affecting them.

ELC

As consistent across all Campuses, the Early Learning Centre embraces the highly successful RULER Program where all children are consistently encouraged to understand and articulate their emotions and feelings to develop sound social and emotional intelligences.

The children benefit from the opportunity of peer mentoring, modelling, explicit teaching and outcomes that are developmentally appropriate for their own level. Our Centre is well supported by a Learning Enhancement team, if the need arises, for additional learning support.

Our staff use a variety of methods to document a child’s learning whether it be through portfolios of the children’s work, photo documentation, reflective journals and developmental checklists which are available to families at all times.

One of the many benefits of being part of a Kindergarten to Year 12 school is that the ELC children have many opportunities to take their learning outside our Centre to utilise the whole Campus facilities and resources and the many cross-campus events and activities on offer. We visit the School’s cafés, aquatic centre, sports fields and even our beach camp at Shoreham.

We are proud to offer a nurturing place where children feel safe, secure  and valued and where families feel comfortable and confident in leaving their children each day. We enjoy building relationships with our children and families and are passionate about working with families to foster enthusiastic learners with all the tools necessary to embrace the more formal learning process in the primary years.