Our History
Canterbury Gardens Kindergarten (formerly known as Canterbury Norwood Baptist Kindergarten) has been in operation for 76 years and this has enabled us to develop a rich history and invaluable links with our local community. At the same time we take pride in the fresh and current learning environment provided to our children and our forward-thinking pre-school program. A testament to our place in the community, coupled with our ability to stay current, is the past Canterbury Norwood students who have now had their own children go through the kindergarten!
With just one group each of three and four year old students, children and their parents are able to foster healthy relationships with our teachers and assistants and, of course, other families within our kinder community. The stability of our teaching staff is a great asset to our kinder and enhances our ability to provide children with the confidence, emotional security and skills to learn positive social interaction and reach their full potential.
Role of the Parents & Carers
Being a community run kindergarten means that parents are encouraged to be actively involved in helping us run and improve our services. This directly benefits our children and you as parents!
Parents can volunteer for various roles within the operations of the Kindergarten.
Things you might expect to do as a parent include:
- participate in our working bees each term, which help to keep the centre and outdoor space looking at their best
- help fundraise, which goes towards buying new equipment and investing in our education program.
- assist with adminstrative, maintenence or technology based responsibilites.
At Canterbury Gardens Kindergarten, we are managed by a voluntary Committee of Management from parents of children at the kindergarten. By joining the committee, parents can play a crucial role in running our kindergarten and are responsible for financial management, centre operations and employment of staff.
We value the unique skills that each parent brings, and we wouldn’t be able to run without their help.
Our Committee
Our kindergarten is managed by a committee of parents and carers. We’re responsible for the centre operations and maintenance, finances, fundraising, employment of staff and ensuring everyone – children, parents, staff and the broader community – has the best experience of our kindergarten.
We meet once a month, organise lots of social events throughout the year and hold our Annual General Meeting (AGM) every November, where we encourage all families to attend.
If you think you’d like to be involved, please contact us or email our president president@canterburygardenskinder.com.au
Our Philosophy
Canterbury Gardens Kindergarten (CGK) is a small and intimate, community managed kindergarten, where staff and parents work together to provide quality early childhood education for our children. We also promote partnerships with our local community and involve them in our learning program to help our children understand the importance of being part of this community.
Our kindergarten welcomes children from diverse cultural backgrounds and children with special needs. Families are encouraged to share their culture and home experiences with the kindergarten to help enrich the knowledge of our children.
We base our program on the Early Years Learning Framework with an emphasis on play-based learning. We believe all children are capable of learning successfully and we support each child to participate in the program. Our program takes into account the uniqueness of each child, their individual level of development, their parents’ expectations and our staff members’ values as early childhood educators. Our staff members constantly embrace new ideas and creative elements and include these in the curriculum to help children understand and reflect on what is happening in the wider world.
We aim to provide a nurturing and safe environment for free play which we believe is fundamental in enhancing our children’s emotional development, physical, intellectual, creative, communication and social skills.
The pathway of our children’s learning and development is centred on our theme of “belong, grow, blossom”. testing edit We aim to make children aware that they belong not only to their family, but also to a community, cultural heritage and social groups outside the family. We also help children grow their sense of identity and self-confidence and blossom from their learning experiences.
The day-to-day program is flexible and allows for each child’s individual needs, abilities and interests. We enable our children to play and experiment at open-ended activities with few interruptions. Our children are encouraged to explore, observe, create and use their imagination. We respect the rights of the children to make choices and participate in decisions that affect, them including their learning. Children are encouraged to choose their preferred activity, spend a reasonable amount of time at the activity and then complete their chosen task.
Canterbury Gardens Kinder 