Alexander Kelly Drive (Noarlunga Centre)
Our Alexander Kelly Drive campus is located in Noarlunga Centre, adjacent to Southern Primary Health (Noarlunga Health Village).
We have three rooms, with each one catering for different stages and ages of children’s learning and development. While the rooms are broken up into age groups, the actual age that a child will transition between rooms is dependent on their individual development and the emotional levels of the child.
We aim to provide smooth and positive transitions between rooms for children and families by offering visits to the room in the weeks leading up to the change. This gives the child and the family a chance to get to know the educators and children in the room and become familiar with the set-up and routines of their new environment.
Babies
The Baby Room caters for children from 6 weeks to 24 months, offering a comfortable and stimulating environment where babies are free to explore and learn while developing close bonds and secure attachments with their primary care givers and educators. The babies share a large outdoor play environment with the toddlers, allowing plenty of opportunity to explore the natural elements in a safe, stimulating, child-friendly surrounding. This also provides opportunities for babies to spend time playing and interacting with the children and educators from the toddler room, allowing for smoother transitions when the time comes.
Toddlers
The Toddler Room caters for children aged from around 2 to 3 years. The room is divided into several play-spaces, designed specifically for children to explore in environments which are safe and appropriate for physical, cognitive, and social and emotional learning and development. We offer an open learning environment of indoor and outdoor play throughout the day whenever possible, giving children plenty of choice and flexibility in their play and learning. As toddlers become increasingly autonomous, showing interest in practicing their emerging self-help skills, educators aim to support and scaffold their learning by being readily available to their needs while giving them plenty of opportunities to use and develop these skills. The outdoor environment is safe and stimulating, and provides an area for the children to explore the natural elements of the environment. The toddlers often enjoy having visits to the Kindy yard, which they can access via a connecting gate with the help of an educator.
Kindy
The Kindy Room caters for children aged from approximately 3 years to school age. This room also features a Department of Education and Children’s Services funded Outreach preschool which runs four sessions per week during school terms. All four year olds can access this program while attending our service. The Kindy Room offers an open and flexible environment, where children have plenty of time to engage in play-based learning and develop bonds and relationships with their peers through exploration and shared learning experiences. Educators encourage Kindy children to take on more challenging experiences by offering age and stage appropriate resources for all areas of learning. The Kindy room also offers more structured group times, giving children the opportunity to be involved in numeracy, literacy, songs, stories, games, share time and discussions on various topics for learning. These interactive group experiences provide children with some of the skills and knowledge to help prepare them for their transition to school.
All rooms plan and develop curriculums using the Early Years Learning Framework and each child’s learning is documented through Learning Stories, photographs and written observations. Please see the “Our Centres” section for more information on how we document each individual child’s learning.