Ballina River Street Children’s Centre Inc.
Centre Philosophy
Ballina River Street Children’s Centre acknowledge and respect the traditional custodians, the Bundjalung people, the Nyangbul people of the land in which we work, meet and play. We work in partnership with families and communities to embed Aboriginal perspectives into our curriculum – programs and environments in a respectful and reciprocal approach to teaching and learning.
We will respect the rights of children as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights Of the Child (1989) and Early Childhood Australia’s Code of Ethics and commit to advocating for these rights.
We are committed to providing children, families, colleagues and the community with an environment that allows everyone to have a voice in the educational development of children within our centre. We support all Families, Children and Educators to become involved in decision-making about children’s learning and development.
We acknowledge that children are competent and capable learners, learning through investigative play-based experiences. Educators support children’s learning through scaffolding children’s interests. We believe that children’s ideas and interests form the basis of our program alongside teachers Intentional teaching opportunities.
We value play based learning and acknowledge all children as co-constructors in their own learning and development.
Through children’s interests we will develop a learning environment, which integrates an interactive holistic curriculum, supporting the Early Years Learning Framework, (2009). We will respect children’s rights to participate through respectful reciprocal relationships, developing a sense of belonging.
We will collaborate with our colleagues to generate a culture of continual reflection and renewal of high-quality practices in Early Childhood, engaging in ongoing professional development and learning.
We believe in providing culturally safe environments for all families, children, educators and the community. We are committed to acknowledge the rights of all people, including rainbow families- LGBTIQA+.
We respect our natural environment and the importance of this environment to our planet and we aim to support and implement sustainable practices within the centre. We are committed in developing skills and knowledge for families and children, to advocate for the importance of a sustainable future, recognising the importance of children’s voice in fighting for the rights of all people now and in the future.
We believe children are connected to family, community, culture and place. Their earliest development and learning takes place through these relationships, particularly within the families who are children’s first and most influential educators. Relationships are key in supporting a sense of belonging at Ballina River Street Children’s Centre.
Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Approach, (1979) with UNESCO four dimensions of sustainable development (Elliott & Davis, 2018).
We believe collaborative partnerships with families and the community, and the centre assists children to develop to their full potential. Teachers and Educators support relationships between all families and communities working together to ensure a socio- ecological approach to children’s learning and wellbeing.