“Every child is competent. Every child is unique.”
Professor Carla Rinaldi (Reggio Emilia) as Thinker in residence, Adelaide
At Blackfriars Early Learning Centre (ELC) we firmly believe that these two key components are the focus of our teaching and learning. We build on your child’s individual strengths, skills, abilities and interests in a safe and caring environment. All children are supported to develop persistence, resilience, independence, curiosity and a love of learning. We build happy confident and capable life-long learners.
Reggio Emilia Approach
Blackfriars ELC encompasses the Reggio Emilia approach to young children’s learning, whereby children are encouraged to explore, investigate and discover through play. Educators are co-learners, guides and partners in the child’s learning. Parents are a vital component to the Reggio Emilia philosophy and as such are viewed as partners, collaborators and advocates for their children. This approach to teaching young children puts the natural development of children as well as close relationships that they share with their environment and educators at the centre of its philosophy. The Early Years Learning Framework is also used as a curriculum tool in the programming, implementing, evaluating and reporting process. Both approaches focus on the development of strong relationships: educator to child, educator to parent, and child to child as of the utmost importance in the day to day education and care of our children.
Blackfriars ELC offers an integrated play-based curriculum for all children aged 3-5 years. The development of dispositions such as confidence, independence, resilience and persistence are a fundamental part of our program. These dispositions lead to skills and competencies within our children to become enabled global citizens.
“Children explore, investigate and discover through play.”
Our co-educational integrated programs are tailored to the individual needs of all our learners. An inquiry based approach, including learning through play; investigation and exploration allows 3 and 4 year old children to have the ability to pursue their individual interests and our staff to cater to their specific needs.
Inclusion Aware Centre
We are certified as an Inclusion Aware Centre. Inclusion Aware refers to consistent and considered thought about environments, resources and planning to support children and families with a diverse range of abilities, interests and backgrounds.
Photo: Kate Di Troia from Inclusion SA and the ELC Team