Little Saints Preschool is based on the grounds of St John’s Lutheran School in Jindera, NSW. Meet Penny (Service Leader), Belinda (Early Childhood Teacher and Pedagogical Leader), Nicole and Amy (Educators)
In 2024, our dynamic and forward-thinking team at Little Saints Preschool is dedicated to creating a safe and engaging learning community for Jindera. We are committed to promoting this vision as we welcome new families and anticipate the growth of the Jindera community in the coming years.
We collaborate with families to provide children with a program guided by their voices, interests, and culture. Children are invited to share their thoughts and ideas about how their play spaces come to be, which empowers them to build strong connections with their educators, volunteers, and students within this environment.
Our sustainable practices allow our environments to showcase agency-filled spaces, inspiring creativity with loose parts, First Nations perspectives, and recycled materials.
Please look at some of the things we have been exploring with our children.
Outdoor Larger Loose Parts Play
The most magnificent' secluded' area is outside, down the back of our big yard. It is under the big tree, near the sandpit and the hose. We observed that the children claimed this space as their 'fire'. There is so much collaboration and problem-solving happening here- with much discussion about the resources available, such as big reels, planks of timber, branches of trees and big rocks. This interdependence as learners fosters relationships and teamwork. They draw upon their own and others' imagination in this space where there is a 'fire' camping chair and a cooking space - recalling knowledge they have from their own lives to scaffold their play.
Little Saints Office Display
Self-portraits are a way for artists to show more than just their looks. Drawing their faces can be tricky for kids because they often want to draw their whole bodies. But even in their simple drawings, children reveal a lot about how they see themselves. They learn to discuss their features and colours as they draw, developing essential skills.
Our children have had the opportunity to explore this concept and create a beautiful display of belonging and agency within the Learning community of St John’s Lutheran School and Little Saints Preschool.
Colour Mixing
we embarked on an exciting journey of exploration with chalk. Our time spent experimenting with chalk they had allowed us to develop our fine motor skills, coordination, and descriptive language. It also allowed us to use the colours of dry chalk together and watch in wonder as the colours transformed before our eyes.
The excitement increased as we added water, creating a beautiful sticky substance we were eager to play with. Watching the chalk dry as the water evaporated was a fascinating experience that we all enjoyed. The children led this activity and offered a genuinely inspiring sensory experience.
Board Games
Playing simple board games encourages a range of executive functioning skills. Research shows lifelong benefits when children have opportunities to develop executive function and self-regulation skills. These skills are essential for learning and development. They support positive behaviour and choices for ourselves and others.
These skills include-
· Working memory (this governs our ability to retain and manipulate information over short periods of time—e.g., the roll of the red dice means I put a red token on).
· Mental flexibility (This helps us sustain or change our attention in response to different demands, e.g., in a game of chance, being ok when things don't go the way we wanted).
· Self-control (which enables us to prioritise and resist impulsive actions, e.g., not wanting to have a turn when it's not your go or being ok if someone else wins)
At Little Saints, we recognise that each member of our community is a unique child of God with their own cultural beliefs and value the diversity of learners. We encourage and develop respect for others, a love for learning, and a desire to grow to maturity in Christ.
