resource - Dorothy Waide Centre for Early Learning

Talking about early childhood education
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE
DOROTHY WAIDE CENTRE FOR EARLY LEARNING | GRIFFITH CHILD CARE CENTRE INC
We are o'en asked by parents what’s
the difference between preschool and
long day care and would my 4 or 5 years
benefit from a preschool experience
rather than a long day care experience.
The answer is an a simple as it is
complex. Both early childhood
programs operate under the same
NaConal RegulaCons, NaConal Quality
Standard and NaConal Early Years
Curriculum.
This means that both seKngs have to
employ University Qualified Early
Childhood Teachers (just the same as
schools), in all staff have to hold a
current early childhood qualificaCon -­‐
Cert III in Early Childhood EducaCon and
Care or Diploma of Early Childhood
EducaCon and Care. Children in all early
childhood seKngs will have access to
the program lead by and early
childhood teacher in the year prior to
school. In our seKng our preschool and
toddler playrooms are lead by early
childhood teachers and supported by
diploma qualified staff, this provides for
an excepConal experience for children.
In addiCon all seKngs have to ensure
they comply with staff child raCos, NSW
has the highest expectaCon on raCos for
preschool aged children with a raCo of
1:10, at Dorothy Waide our raCo is 1:9.
So both seKngs are very similar, the
difference is in the approach.
What will children learn and how
does this happen.
An Australia wide curriculum has
been established for early years
learning services by the
Commonwealth Government and
State Governments. The Early
Years Learning Framework. The
Early years Learning Framework –
Belonging, Being and Becoming
(EYLF) describes the principles,
pracCce and outcomes essenCal to
support and enhance young
children’s learning from birth to
five years of age, as well as their
transiCon to school. Every early
childhood seKng in NSW is
mandated to follow this
curriculum, how it is applied may
vary between seKngs, but the
common pracCces are a play
based learning environment and
where the program strongly
reflects the interests of children,

One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we
cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or
honest. -Maya Angelou
families, adults and community.
The Framework has a strong emphasis
on play-­‐based learning as play is the
best vehicle for young children’s
learning providing the most
appropriate sCmulus for brain
development. The Framework also
recognises the importance of
communicaCon and language
(including early literacy and numeracy)
and social and emoConal
development.
Some of the features of a quality early
childhood program will be focus on
play and how children learn through
deep engagement in what they are
doing and adults engaging with
children through this process. You will
big blocks of Cme devoted to children’s
play, allowing children to fully explore
what they are doing.
The EYLF has a five key learning
outcomes that are addressed within
the curriculum. These learning
outcomes are essenCal for a child to
succeed through life, and enhance
their success as a they start school.
The learning outcomes are expressed
as ..
• Children have a strong sense of
idenCty (knowing who you are,
who you belong to and how you
fit in the world)
• Children are connected with and
contribute to their world (being
able to parCcipate in play with
others, contribute to curriculum,
play, tell news, etc)
• Children have a strong sense of
wellbeing (feeling good about
yourself, happy and engaged)
• Children are confident and
involved learners (knowing and
wanCng to learn about how the
word works, developing
conceptual knowledge, literacy,
numeracy, interest in science,
creaCve processes)
• Children are effecCve
communicators. (being able to
tell their story, through talking,
listening, drawing, developing
wriCng skills, using technology
etc)
For more informaCon see Early years
learning framework (PDF – 170kb).
What will this learning look like?
Lots of opportunity for children to
engage in meaningful, planned for play.
Within our curriculum programing we
intenConally plan for play and acCvely
create opportuniCes for children to
engage and explore play that leads
them to discoveries, news skills, and
new ways of thinking.
Our planning model incorporates what
children are interested. This is
determined by group brain storming
sessions with children where children
bring their topic of interest and we
explore with what they know and what
they want to learn about. This means
that they are engaged from the start in
the learning process and how we plan
for that. This allows us then to build in
the conceptual knowledge and skills
we know children need to have success
in life. Literacy, numeracy, life skills,
social skills, science, and creaCvity are
all included and this is constantly
assessed against the framework and
developmental milestones, to ensure
that children are within the
developmental level for their age
group.
You will observe children pracCcing
their wriCng skills in the wriCng area,
counCng with games and puzzles,
being creaCve with cra', art, blocks
and sand play. You will see children
playing together, negoCaCng to share
equipment, share ideas on how to
build projects, playing games,
remembering rules and being
confident to talk in groups and with
adults.
Some things you won’t see in our play
are stencils, these are not appropriate
for young children and sCfle creaCvity
and thinking. You wont see children
siKng at tables doing formal lessons
on number or the alphabet. This is
what school does and is best le' to
when children are older, children learn
in a far more organic way. You also
won;t find us working on the leeer of
the week, colour of the week or other
themaCc approaches to teaching,
these approaches are not seen as
effecCve ways to engage children and
are more for adults than children.
Our creaCve acCviCes are also very
much child directed, so you won’t find
all children coming home with the
same completed cra' or art work.
Again this is an appropriate way to
work with children or to engage with
their learning. Enabling children to
find their own voice with creaCvity
enables them to find out what they
know and how they see the world,
leKng them come up with how they
express that ensures that we cater to
how they learn. Howard Gardener,
educaConal specialist, idenCfied that
we all learn in very different ways -­‐
some by doing, some by listening,
some think in logical ways, some
musical, some through movement.
SomeCmes its combinaCons of these
different learning styles. Our job as
educators is to facilitate each child's
learning style to get the best out of
them.
You will see how we noCce children in
how we write up the daily journal
(program), how we complete children’s
learning stories (a narraCve of a child’s
play) how we unpack the learning and
knowledge we can see against the
learning outcomes and what this
means for that child as they grow and
in how we communicate with you

about your child.
Our Rou8ne:
Our day has big blocks of Cme for
children to engage with what they
are interested in.
Our morning starts off inside,
greeCng each other, seeling into our
day in a relaxed and informal way.
OpportuniCes to read books, snuggle
up and catch up. As our group grows
we move to our home playrooms and
gather to plan our day and what we
might be doing. We then grab our
hats and sunscreen and head outside.
Children help set up, one of the life
skills that is so important -­‐ children
needing to able to plan for their play
and take an acCve role in doing it.
Outside you will find children playing
games with adults, pracCcing skills
like riding bikes, jumping, running,
balls skills, in the sand pit making
cakes, building roads -­‐ measuring,
counCng, being creaCve. You will also
find children in the vege garden
checking the veges, measuring growth,
checking on the composCng process
and looking for bugs. All part of
connecCng with the natural world. We
also do cra' and art outdoors, so
acCviCes you will find indoors are also
available in the outdoor space too.
We are back indoors at about 10:30
ensuring we comply with best pracCce
for sun safety. Its back to a small
regrouping and re-­‐engaging -­‐ what are
we going to do, who with and when.
Then back to play.
Puzzles, construcCons acCviCes games,
books, role play, creaCve arts, and
technology o'en all being done in
small groups, with educators mixing
with all children. You will see
educators and children searching the
internet for new knowledge, checking
youtube clips of sharks or dinosaurs or
fairy princesses.
Children sharing their thinking with the
group is also important and while large
group experiences are kept really short
these are sCll important
moments for children to
gain confidence. Most of our group
experiences are in small groups.
Why is play so important?
Play is very important for children.
Through play young children explore
and learn to understand the world
around them as they come to
communicate, discover, imagine and
create.
When children play they are showing
what they have learned and what they
are trying to understand. This is why
play is one of the foundaCons of the
Early Years Learning Framework. A
play-­‐based program does not mean
that children just do what they like all
day. In a play-­‐based program there will
be Cmes when children come together
as a group, listen when others are
talking, follow the rules of group living
and begin to take responsibility for
their acCons and their environment.
Children are offered choices that
reflect their developmental stage. The
choices are determined by the
educators
and are provided within limits of safety
and within the group seKng. The
educators conCnually evaluate
children’s play to discover what it is
children are learning and to then help
shape and extend this learning.
Will preschool at Dorothy Waide help
my child be ready for school?
Yes. Early childhood centres’ help
children to become socially and
developmentally prepared to transiCon
to school. We work with children at
levels that are appropriate to their age,
and enable children to develop and
learn, gaining social competency and
skills.
Being ready for school is about being
EmoConally and Socially ready for
school. Being confident to engage with
others, confident to take part,
confident to separate from parents.
EnthusiasCc about learning. While
conceptual knowledge can be a bonus,
children don’t need to know the
alphabet back to front or be able to
count to 100 to start school. What

we know is that if your well being is
catered for and you are happy for
much of the Cme then your prospects
for learning are much beeer off.
School will build on the skills they have
gained in the early years.
If you are sCll thinking about whether
to send your child to school, our
educator team can help. Just arrange a
Cme to sit and talk about how you
child is progressing and if they are
ready for school.
Cost:
Standalone preschools and Long Day
Care services are funded very
differently, and parents have access to
different levels of support. This means
that fees can vary significantly between
the two types of services. Preschools
currently can not access Child Care
Benefit, so this means that for some
parents the fee at long day care for
preschool once CCB is applied can be
below the preschool fee at a stand
alone seKng. For some families the
fee at preschool may be below the
level of support they can access at a
long day care seKng.
So whats the difference between
preschool and long day care then?
The big differences are length of the
day and the age mix of the children.
We are open from 7am through Cll
6pm, so if
you are working you have the flexibility
of start and finish of your day without
having to sort out other care
arrangements for your child. You also
have the flexibility of more days,
Preschool can someCmes be limited in
the number of days and hours you can
receive fee support for.
Dorothy Waide is also open for 49
weeks of the year as well, closing only
for Christmas and for a few days
around Easter each year.
Long day care means that we also cater
for children from birth through to
school age. We are mulC-­‐aged group,
one of the most effecCve ways to
group children and for them to learn
and engage with their peers and
others. The grouping means that
children will mix with children who are
younger and older than them. This
builds on children’s confidence,
empathy and also skills. Younger
children
learning off
older children is
one of the best
ways to get new
skills, and much
less frustraCng.
The grouping also
reflects the
broader world we
live in which is filled
with people older
and younger than
us. At Dorothy Waide
our preschool room
has a mix of ages from 3 -­‐ school age.
Each year we have around 34 children
who move on to “big School”, each day
thus means around 10 -­‐ 14 children will
be in their prior to school year. Many
of these children aeend mulCple days.
This cohort is very strong, engaged and
acCve young learners, the small group
size also means that the educator team
are beeer able to cater for their
individual needs.
So what if I “mix and match”
preschool and long day care
“preschool”.
Not a problem at all, as the parent you
will make the best decision for your
child. SomeCmes we benefit from
having a mix of care arrangements,
someCmes this can be overwhelming
for children. In the same way that
adults get overwhelmed by too many
things happening in their life. But
neither preschool in a standalone
service or preschool in a long day care
environment is beeer than the other,
its just different.
Our aim should be what is the best
experience for my child, which offers
the best opportuniCes.
If you have quesCons or want to know
more about what we do please talk to
the educator team -­‐ Grace, Glenn,
Laura, or Neville