About Us - Bishop Kindergarten

Statement of Philosophy

At Bishop Kindergarten, the staff believe in establishing respectful and reciprocal relationships with families and the community to enable the development of mutual understandings about children’s knowledge, skills and dispositions.

We value a quality curriculum that allows us to respect diversity and focus on the importance of children learning through play in a welcoming, safe and stimulating environment.

Reviewed: June 2019
(Governing Council and Staff).

Context Statement

Bishop Kindergarten:

Is a full time Department for Education and Child Development (DECD) Category 2, stand alone Preschool with a 33 child capacity.
The building is well maintained and was purpose built about 50 years ago with street parking along Willison Street and George Street.
Is one of a number of Early Childhood Services (Preschools and Childcare Centres) in and close to Port Lincoln.
Works with the Preschool Community and the Port Lincoln Office for Education to support the placement of children into Preschool Programs.
Families come from diverse backgrounds and travel from within the city limits and outlying rural areas.
Staff team consists of 1.0 Director, 1.0 Teacher, 0.4 teacher and 1.0 Early Childhood Worker (ECW). This staff team has been working together at Bishop Kindergarten for a number of years.
Introduced Same First Day in 2013 i.e. Children who turned 4 before the first of May are entitled to start at the beginning of the school year. A transition and orientation program is negotiated each year when a ‘transition to school’ provides spaces for new preschool children to begin a transition to preschool.
Place children in 2 groups of 30 after negotiating with families.
- BLUE group – attend Monday and Wednesday 8.30a.m. – 3.00p.m. and every second Friday 8.30a.m – 12.30p.m
- GREEN group – attend Tuesday and Thursday 8.45a.m. – 3.00p.m. and every second Friday 8.30a.m – 12.30p.m
- These groups stay the same to maximise continuity of relationships and involvement in the curriculum.
Uses the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia – Belonging, Being and Becoming to facilitate children’s play-based learning.
Implements DECD priorities – Numeracy and Literacy – intentionally setting up environments that will enable the children to show their knowledge, skills and dispositions.
Uses the National Quality Standards (NQS) to guide a yearly systematic self review.
The 7 Quality areas of the NQS enable us to enquire into all aspects of the Preschool’s operations and helps to address questions on the quality and effectiveness of the Preschool’s processes, outcomes and performance.
Is a welcoming, safe and stimulating learning environment where the outside play space can be utilized in all weather and the children use the natural environment to extend their play and learning.