
Learning Environment
The physical environment at the Pennant Hills War Memorial Children’s Centre is one of our greatest assets. We value both indoor and outdoor environments equally as key spaces for learning. We encourage children to initiate their own play ideas using creative displays, a variety of materials, and equipment, and we support them in exploring, questioning, discovering, and revisiting their learning.
The experiences we provide are diverse and aim to meet the needs and interests of all children.

We are fortunate to have a spacious double block for outdoor play, which is naturally shaded during the summer. Each day, we take great care to create a stimulating and creative learning play space that is inviting and encourages children to explore. The presence of natural elements, such as deciduous and flowering trees along with numerous garden beds, adds to the beauty of this enchanting area.
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Our outdoor space fosters curiosity and wonder. Key features include a large sandpit, permanent climbing structures, a water pump connected to a rainwater tank, a sandstone yarning circle, a mud kitchen, vegetable gardens, and a bush tucker garden. As a SunSmart preschool, we adhere to outdoor play guidelines established by the Cancer Council. Children are required to wear hats year-round.

Each classroom is equipped with the same features, including blocks, imaginative play areas, creative spaces, games and puzzles, quiet areas, and a variety of manipulative materials. These spaces are arranged based on the ideas and interests of the specific group of children in that classroom. Interest areas are designed to spark children's curiosity and often emerge from their ideas and conversations. Children have the opportunity to play individually or in small collaborative groups. There is also a shared floor space where the entire class can gather together for group experiences.
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Each classroom features its own attached communal bathroom, equipped with child-sized toilets and handwashing basins.

A day at preschool
Each morning, children arrive at preschool with their parents or carer. They are greeted by one of their teachers and helped to unpack their bags. From the start of the year, we encourage a growing sense of independence. We understand that some children may need a moment to settle into preschool life, and we have educators available to provide support as needed.
The day begins indoors, where children often select a favourite activity, resource, or engage with a teacher. Once most of the children have arrived, they gather for a morning meeting to discuss the day ahead and share experiences from home.
Each class follows a “flow of the day,” which provides predictability and consistency in their schedule. It also allows for flexibility. Typically, children spend approximately half of the day inside and half outside, allowing them unrushed time and opportunity to make choices, explore the various opportunities offered by the environment and educators, and revisit prior learning.
There are two designated food breaks during the preschool day: morning tea and lunch. Parents and caregivers provide all food and drink for their children, and the preschool has facilities to refrigerate lunches. We encourage healthy eating habits. Children are also encouraged to bring a water bottle, which we refill as needed throughout the day. Meals can be enjoyed indoors at tables or outdoors as a picnic.
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Throughout the day, children come together at various times to read stories, sing and dance, conduct experiments, cook, or discuss shared interests and ideas. These group activities are valuable opportunities for listening to one another and sharing thoughts.
At PHWMCC, we intentionally design play spaces that encourage collaborative play among peers and support children's social and emotional development. Educator’s help children express their emotions, engage in play, take turns, negotiate, and develop an increasing awareness of themselves as part of a community. Our goal is to foster resilience and agency in children through learning experiences that recognize them as capable and competent learners.
Our aim is for children to have a positive learning experience that allows them to progress at their own individual level and develop a love for learning. We value the process of play over the final product, respecting each child's engagement in their learning.
At the end of free play periods, children are invited to tidy up and pack away, fostering respect for our preschool and the environment around them. They also pack their bags at the end of the day and say goodbye when their parent or carer arrives for pick-up.
Throughout the day, educators engage with children in play, supporting their learning and development. They document observations that relate to each child, allowing for the creation of an individual profile that highlights their interests, ideas, strengths, and needs. This information is used to set personalised learning outcomes for each child, ensuring we monitor their growth effectively. Families can view this documentation through the Storypark App. We are always available to discuss your child’s progress and offer meetings with your child’s classroom teacher twice a year.

Partnerships
At Pennant Hills War Memorial Children’s Centre, we believe in fostering genuine, respectful and trusting partnerships with families. We believe that this is the starting point for the ongoing learning and development of each child. These relationships enhance children’s and families’ sense of belonging and enable us to build on the strengths of each other’s knowledge about the child. Partnerships with families support children’s developing social skills, and strengthen their connections to their culture and sense of identity. Strong partnerships foster trust, confidence, and, most importantly, a sense of belonging.
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At PHWMCC, we highly value the time we dedicate to families throughout the day. We offer opportunities for open communication, as we believe that warm and trusting relationships ultimately benefit the children in our care. Our open-door policy allows families to visit at any time during the day.
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We provide numerous opportunities for families to engage with and contribute to their child’s preschool experience in meaningful ways. This might include sharing their occupations, hobbies, skills, interests, cultures, stories, gardening, cooking, music, and much more.
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We believe in continuous communication and collaboration as we work in partnership to establish learning outcomes for each child. We recognise the importance of being aware, listening, and providing support to enhance children’s needs, interests, and strengths. We encourage families to participate in decision-making to enrich their child’s learning during these early years.
Reconciliation
At PHWMCC, our vision is to contribute to a reconciled future between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the wider Australian community by learning about and respectfully sharing knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ histories and cultures. It is essential to involve our entire community in this, especially children from a young age. In pursuit of our vision, we will learn and grow together, improving our community’s knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' perspectives. We will do this by deepening our understanding, acceptance, and openness.
We strive to be an organisation that leads their community in building a future of reconciliation that is strengthened by the unity of all Australians. Our role is to raise awareness of reconciliation and the significance of recognising and respecting the histories, cultures, and contributions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as part of our shared national story and identity and to provide opportunities for our community to come on this learning journey to create a positive mindset. We strive to create a future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve, and mutual relationships.


Sustainabillity
At PHWMCC, we strive to incorporate sustainable practices into our daily routines. We understand the importance of nurturing a generation of children who recognise the significance of caring for and protecting the environment. Together with our families and children, we have developed practices that promote sustainable living.
These include:
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Solar panels on our roof
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Vegetable, herb and bush tucker gardens
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Worm farms, where children help to feed the worms each day
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Teaching children to sort their rubbish into food scraps, recyclable products, soft plastics and landfill
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Rain water tank to be used for watering our gardens and play
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Using donated paper offcuts
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Encouraging children in the wise use of paper, water, paper towels, electricity
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Allowing children to take responsibility for turning off lights when not in the room
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Wise use of natural air flow
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Many discussions on how we all need to be responsible for our world
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Investigations and experiments related to sustainable living
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Using recycled products in craft activities – eg boxes, yoghurt containers, plastic lids
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Purchasing sustainable equipment
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Utilising natural and recycled resources whenever possible
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Encouraging “nude food” – food without packaging
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Being a collection point for household batteries and printer and toner cartridges
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Encouraging children to “take what they need” in all areas of play – the garden, craft materials, water, etc.
All of these sustainable practices help to create a culture where children are encouraged to care for and respect the environment around them.

Early Years learning Framework (EYLF) V2.0
​​The Early Years Learning Framework V2.0 is the national curriculum framework that we at PHWMCC follow. It is designed to ensure quality and consistency in the delivery of early childhood education programs across all early childhood settings.
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The Framework conveys the highest expectations for all children’s learning, development and wellbeing from birth to 5 years and through the transitions to school. It communicates these expectations through the following 5 Learning Outcomes:
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• Children have a strong sense of identity
• Children are connected with and contribute to their world
• Children have a strong sense of wellbeing
• Children are confident and involved learners
• Children are effective communicators.
Play-based learning is a key component of the EYLF V2.0. It capitalises on children’s natural inclination to be curious, explore and learn. Through play, they exercise their agency, intentionality, capacity to initiate and lead learning, and their right to participate in decisions that affect them, including about their learning.
Play-based learning:
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allows for the expression of personality and uniqueness
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enhances thinking skills and lifelong learning dispositions such as curiosity, persistence and creativity
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enables children to make connections between prior experiences and new learning and to transfer learning from one experience to another
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assists children to develop and build relationships and friendships
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develops knowledge acquisition and concepts in authentic contexts
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builds a sense of identity
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strengthens self-regulation, and physical and mental wellbeing.
At PHWMCC children will be engaged in play based learning that both comes from their own ideas, as well as intentional teaching lead by their team of educators.
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The EYLF V2.0 Planning Cycle describes the process educators follow in planning, documenting, responding to and supporting children’s learning. Educators observe, assess, plan, implement and evaluate children’s learning both as a group and for individual children.
Ref: EYLFV 2.0 2023