My logo represents each child reaching, being supported to take risks and developing their own confidence.
It also represents us adults providing the spaces for our children to develop as they reach to master new skills with our encouragement and support.
The movement of the child represents that lovely feeling of freedom and excitement as they master a skill that is more complex than the one before.
The leaf represents the connection we all have with nature and country and the importance of nature to development.
E.L.F is Education Linked to Families because I believe in a partnership where parents, carers and educators feel confident and empowered to let our youngest children develop the skills needed in life through play, talk, exploring and being.
The greatest privilege about working in Early Childhood is that you are often the first step the child takes away from home and you have direct contact with the parents and caregivers as they entrust their precious child to you.
I have always made the relationship with the family a primary focus. How can I get to know the child if I don't make connections with the family and their backgrounds, their values and their concerns? With these strong family connections, we can work as a team to help the child develop from a highly egocentric person to a socially astute one.
One of my beliefs is that every early childhood setting must be their safe place - these little children are making their own decisions and that might mean wearing a raincoat, three jumpers and gum boots on a hot summer day! Undies on the outside of the long pants is part of that learning! The deserve our support as they learn these skills in an environment that is safe and where they are scaffolded to learn.
I also cherish the fact that every little child is a sponge for learning and it is up to us to honour that, to provide the play spaces that allow deep learning. The key to developing good learning and a deep understanding is multiple opportunities to practice the skills they are learning... and don't forget that while they are learning a new skill, they will forget other skills.
Ensuring that the child can role play, discover and fall is all important; we need to build children who will take a risk because they know we are there to help them up or encourage them and to celebrate each step.
ELF is a service provider for parent groups, Child Care providers, Child Health Services and others to access in order to learn how to support our youngest children in this fast moving world so that our children are safe, secure and connected to family and community.
I look forward to building connections with you so we can support our young children and our communities.
Commentaires