About Ngala’s ‘learn through play’ philosophy
At Ngala we advocate for a child-centred approach that places the child at the centre of the educational process, emphasising their interests, needs, and developmental stages. Our philosophy and practice is guided by many different theories and theorists where the child’s autonomy, curiosity, and active participation in their learning journey is prioritised.
This philosophy is driven by some core beliefs:
- Developing responsive, warm, trusting and respectful relationships with children promotes their wellbeing, self-esteem and sense of security. Positive interactions with children convey to them that they are valued as competent and capable individuals, and children develop confidence in their ability to express themselves, manage their feelings, learn new skills and take risks to extend their capabilities.
- Positive and responsive one-to-one interactions with babies and toddlers are important for their wellbeing and encourage them to thrive. Babies and toddlers need a secure foundation of trusting relationships with adults before they are ready to explore and learn about their world.
- Older children need assistance from educators and other important adults in their lives to guide their interactions with peers and others as they explore their identity and develop more complex social skills and relationships.
- Educators and other staff develop warm relationships with children, respect children’s opinions, provide children with opportunities to become self-reliant and develop self-esteem, maintain children’s dignity and rights, and provide children with positive guidance and support towards managing their own behaviour.
How you’ll see this philosophy brought to life in our Centres.
Children making choices:
Our learning environments remain available all day, allowing children to choose when and where they play. We don’t rush children from one activity to another, rather they’re given the time and space to focus, practise, and master new skills at their own pace.
Progressive mealtimes:
We aim to provide a home-like environment as much as possible, so you will see children invited individually to meal times, and meal times offered in small groups. This is so we can support the children and Educators to engage in lovely social interactions, while also learning vital self-help skills.
Consistent, safe learning environments:
We aim to make every child feel safe and secure, and one way to achieve this is to provide consistent environments. You can expect to see small changes made to the play areas over the fortnight, but we avoid making large changes so the children can locate resources, and have time to master their learning. So things don’t get boring, we also ensure there is a wide variety of play offered every day.
Open-ended art experiences:
We provide a rich art curriculum each day where children are encouraged to work on developmental skills however they choose to express them. You can expect to see some wonderful art exploration, but you will never see children all bringing home the exact same creation (when you see this you know the adult has more input into the art than the child!).
Messy play and sensory exploration:
Young children are very tactile and learn through the use of all their senses. Child development theories focus on the need for children to touch and investigate, which is why we encourage all ranges of messy play, including painting, mud play and water play.
Lots of outdoor play:
The doors between the indoor and outdoor environments are open for the majority of the day so children can make their own choices about where to play. It also allows us to facilitate small group play where educators can engage in meaningful interactions and teaching moments.
Intentional teaching:
Educators take great care in planning the resources and learning environments. They then use strategies such as open-ended questioning, role modelling and scaffolding to enrich each child’s learning.