Our Rooms
The Centre supports our educators with professional development that they then incorporate into the environment and programming for our children.
At Woodroffe, we have three rooms:
Wombats, where our youngest children start off, with ages from 9 months to 2 years
Wallabies, our transitional room, with ages from 2 to 3 years
Barramundi, our pre-schoolers, comprised of ages from 3 to 5 years, where our children supported to prepare for pre-school, and are supported throughout their pre-school year.
We understand the importance of supporting our children while they transition to their new room, and this only occurs when the child is developmentally ready.
Wombat philosophy
Team Leader: Zeta
In the Wombat room our team focus on providing the children with a stable, secure and loving space that acts as an anchor, allowing for a harmonious, environmental connection with nature, giving our children the freedom to learn, experience and explore.
Our aim is to connect the children to the world around them, by showing the connection between the earth and the plants that provide our food.
In our small garden, we allow the children to prepare the garden beds, often using recycled materials and making our compost from the Centre’s kitchen waste. We then grow vegetables and fruits from seeds and cuttings, nurturing them daily and at the end it is amazing to see the children’s reactions when they harvest and eat the fruit and vegetables they have grown.
These learning patterns lay the groundwork for them to care about nature, working as a team, empathy with others, basic hygiene rules, cause and effect, and the cycle of nature and its place in their life.
Wallabies philosophy
Team Leader: Lulu and Gema
Children discover the value of communication is in enhancing the autonomy of individual and the group. The group becomes self-sustaining, developing its own conversation through communicating, acting and thinking. Play is an essential part of learning, and is the lifeblood of the learning process. As children play, they are developing their cognitive, socio-emotional and physical skills that they need to become successful and well-rounded adults.
Our aim is to provide a happy, relaxed and secure environment for every child to feel safe and supported with their developmental skills.
Barramundi philosophy
Team Leader: Lourdes and Michelle
The Barramundi room provides a safe and respectful environment where children have the greatest opportunity to grow, develop, create and discover to their full potential – ready for the years ahead. This is achieved by teachers who watch, listen and encourage suggestions from children and their families to help chart the direction of the program and then scaffold intended learning outcomes for children.
This is a place where we believe that play is an important tool for learning. Learning through play helps to formulate healthy experiences for children. We encourage children to work in collaborative partnership to solve any challenges they experience. We follow Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF), a stimulating program that offers open-ended activities and experiences both indoors and outdoors. Through play-based-learning they learn how to share, how to solve conflicts, how to recognise and handle emotions, how to help others, how to interact appropriately with others, how to foster imagination & creativity. Children spend their day in both free choice play and educator guided play.
To achieve a strong sense of belonging in the room, we work closely with the children and their families to include their culture, beliefs, and interests.
