Pre-Kindergarten

The Browning Early Learning Centre (ELC) is a purpose-built learning environment for Pre-Kindergarten children. It is our privilege to welcome our youngest students and their families to the ELC and we warmly invite you to visit at any time.

The design of our learning spaces is based on the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education, in which the environment is the "third teacher". Indoor and outdoor spaces invite wonder and curiosity, exploration and play, inquiry and meaning-making. Our veggie patch, kitchen, sandpit and mud pit, art workshops, cubby houses, adventure gardens and classrooms nourish the minds, bodies and souls of our young ELC students.

The Pre-Kindergarten year provides a strong formation in social and emotional development. Children search out knowledge through their own explorations and guided investigations, and the thoughts and questions of each child are valued.

At this year level the Early Years Learning Framework and Primary Years Programme (PYP) support the provision of rich, open-ended learning experiences. During Kindergarten children begin to participate in more structured learning experiences, while continuing to develop questioning and curiosity through PYP units of inquiry.

The programme maintains a balance between play-based and guided learning experiences, where the development of early literacy is at the heart of teaching and learning.

The child's sense of security and belonging is paramount to both wellbeing and learning. In the ELC, positive relationships form the foundation of a journey in which identity, diversity and community are actively fostered and nourished. We recognise that children learn and express their thoughts and creativity in many different ways. These "languages", or ways of learning, are actively celebrated as each child participates in experiences of belonging, being and becoming.