Our Curriculum

Play Based Learning

Here at Bayside, we provide a curriculum based on the importance of play based learning. Our outdoor environment allows our Educators to encourage the children to connect with nature and the outdoors. This allows the children to extend and enhance their natural curiosity to the world that surrounds them. Our qualified and experienced Educators scaffold the children’s interests in order to develop their critical thinking, communication, imagination, creativity, interactions with others and active learning processes while constantly supporting them in a safe and caring environment.

Opportunity to practice and master skills

At Bayside, we believe it is best practice for children to have opportunities to practice and master emerging physical skills. We believe it is through the outdoor environment that children can fully and freely experience motor skills like running, leaping, and jumping while taking risks. We feel it is also the most appropriate place for the children to be able to perform manipulative skills such as pushing a swing, pulling a wagon, and lifting and carrying movable objects.

 A focus on the learning journey

We believe that play is the foundation of the Early Years Learning Framework and interpret this by offering the children choices that will reflect their developmental stage. Our Educators observe, interact, interpret, plan for, follow up and evaluate the children in a variety of different formats to ensure all children are tailored for individually, throughout their stay at Bayside. A typical day at Bayside will cater for opportunities to challenge the children with a focus on the learning journey opposed to the end product in a safe, trusting and nurturing environment.

Being, Becoming & Belonging

The curriculum here at Bayside is based on the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (EYLF) and embraces the inclusive vision that “all children experience learning that is engaging and builds success for life.” The EYLF describes a vision of children’s learning, characterised by:

• belonging — Recognising that knowing where and with whom you belong is integral to human existence, providing a basis for children’s interdependence and relationships with others
• being — Recognising and valuing the “here and now” in children’s lives, and viewing childhood as more than simply preparation for adulthood or for the future
• becoming — Recognising the rapid and significant learning and development that occurs in the early years, and the capability and potential of all children