The Early Years Learning Framework
The Early Years Learning Framework is Australia's first national framework, which supports and guides early education practices.
The curriculum emphasises the importance of nurturing a child’s sense of BELONGING not only in the service but in their community. It supports acknowledging children’s BEING; their current learnings, relationships and challenges. It facilitates children’s learning of ongoing transitions, progression and changes in their lives as they BECOME children, then teens and into adolescence.
The framework is guided by five primary learning outcomes which are embedded into our services curriculum.
LO 1. Children have a strong sense of identity
LO 2. Children are connected with and contribute to their world
LO 3. Children have a strong sense of wellbeing
LO 4. Children are confident and involved learners
LO 5. Children are effective communicators.
Our Learning Philosophy Influences…
Our educating team are committed to educating and caring for your child throughout their early years. The first five years are the most significant for your child’s learning and with the influences of the Early Years Learning Framework, and other theoretical approaches, we will give your child every opportunity to grow and develop to their full potential.
Typical experiences offered to children of all ages of our service include;
Play at great heights
Climbing trees, climbing fixtures outdoors, standing on top of fixtures, high gross motor equipment, etc.
Play at high speed
Riding a bike down a hill or riding at high speed, riding a skateboard down a hill or at high speed, swinging at high speed, sliding forwards or backwards at high speed
Play with dangerous tools
Using construction tools; hammers, screw drivers, hack saws, power drills, metal shovels, etc.
Play with dangerous elements
Engagement with Fire; candles, fire bowl, flints, fire pit, engagement with substantial water, Excursions and regular outings into the community, etc.
Rough-and-tumble play
Stick play, Wrestling, Play fighting, etc.
Play where children "disappear"
Creating cubby houses, Hiding behind fixtures, Hiding in fixtures, etc.
Risky Play
Adamstown Community Early Learning and Preschool’s has a strong natured based pedagogy and therefore supports a risk based approach to children’s play and learning. We encourage children to be supported within the six categories of risky play (Sandseter, 2007) which also reflects the research conducted by our service in collaboration with the University of Newcastle on “Building Children’s Risk Competence.” You can read more information about our project through links to blogs and publications on our FaceBook Page.
The Reggio Emilia Philosophy
ACELP promote an integrated and "Inquiry Based Curriculum" which engage children within project work, supporting their hypothesises and inquiries and building rich knowledge about the world around them. This curriculum reflects the environment as "The Third Teacher’ and ensures children have the right to making their own decisions in learning, through actively planning the curriculum around their emerging interests, strengths and developmental needs to support confident and involved learners. Additionally, educators commit to their role as the "Teacher as Researcher" in growing their theoretical underpinnings and research based knowledge to help intentional teaching of children within their inquiries.
The Abecedarian Approach
By integrating aspects of the Abecedarian Approach into our curriculum, educators can enhance children’s abilities to provide stable and stimulating interactions with children by engaging them in many rich and varied adult-child interaction activities on a daily basis. As ACELP has high quality educator to child ratio’s, we can offer more opportunities for individual learning with rich language priority. Through aspects of this evidence based educational approach, educators can facilitate positive child outcomes in areas such as cognitive, social-emotional, communication, and resilience skills.
Montessori Method
We support methods of Maria Montessori by having diverse and appropriate child and adult sized furnishings and resources which reflect authentic and home like environments as well as real tools to allow children to freely access and explore materials.
Playwork Principals
We recognise the monumental benefits of a keen focus on children's play as learning. Through this keen focus we integrate the Playwork principles into our daily practices, especially in our outdoor environments. We position the understanding that play should be freely chosen, child directed and motivated intrinsically within the child to ensure that children can follow their own instincts during play.
Curriculum Planning
Educators in each room spend time listening with intent to children’s play, learning and conversations to find common threads in the children’s ideas. These common threads are used to form Project based Inquiry Plans to drive the children’s learning and educator’s research. Room Project Journals house significant learning moments from our projects in each room. They also encompass intentional teaching experiences from educators, educator research, analysis of learning, requests for children’s voices/ cues and family input.
In addition to these Room Journals, children are given their own documentation journals, known as their ‘Special Books’ for mark making and recording their own ideas.
Child Learning and Development Documentation
Our service supports children’s individual learning and development through tracking children's significant learning experiences during their time at ACELP. Our curriculum is emergent allowing flexibility and adaption based on children’s interests, curiosities, ideas and theories. We promote and encourage regular family input into their child’s learning.
Although we take a collaborative approach to planning and documenting the children’s learning, each child is allocated a primary educator who is responsible for ensuring their individual learning journey is recognised, supported and documented. As well as children’s individual input into their Special Books, educators also contribute through documenting learning moments. This is done through mini stories; including a series of photos, children’s voices and analysis of their learning; and Formative Assessments.
Children's Formative Assessments are conducted several times throughout the year and review their holistic learning in the five learning outcomes of the Early Years Learning Framework. At the end of each year a Summative Assessment documents children's progress over their time and includes aspirations and achievements.
Our Educational Leaders can further discuss our documentation processes for children upon orientation or enrolment.
Transition to School Program
At Adamstown Community Early Learning and Preschool, we believe that school readiness does not just begin in the year before Kindergarten—it begins from infancy!
Our School Readiness Program is a carefully planned, research-informed journey that begins in our Explorers room and is intentionally strengthened throughout our Investigators room and culminates in our Engineers room. Every interaction, every play experience and every relationship contributes to developing the foundational skills children need to thrive when they begin formal schooling.
Decades of developmental research has transformed our understanding of what truly prepares children for school. While early literacy and numeracy remain important, studies consistently demonstrate that the strongest predictors of long-term academic success are children's executive functioning skills, social competence and emotional wellbeing. These foundational capabilities enable children to engage successfully in learning, build positive relationships and confidently navigate the increasing expectations of the school environment.
Executive functioning refers to a group of cognitive skills that allow children to focus their attention, remember and follow instructions, regulate their emotions, manage impulses, solve problems, think flexibly, organise their thinking and persist when learning becomes challenging. These skills underpin almost every aspect of classroom learning and are recognised by researchers as one of the greatest predictors of educational success.
Research also highlights the critical importance of social and emotional development during the early years. Children who can communicate effectively, cooperate with others, demonstrate empathy, manage disappointment, build friendships, resolve conflicts respectfully and regulate their emotions are better equipped to participate confidently in classroom routines and learning experiences once they enter the formal schooling environment.
Without strong foundations in executive functioning, social competence and emotional regulation, children may find the transition to formal schooling more demanding. Rather than focusing solely on new academic concepts, they may also be simultaneously developing the self-regulation, attention, organisation and relationship skills required to fully engage in classroom learning. By intentionally fostering these capabilities throughout the early years, we help children enter school with the confidence, independence and resilience needed to embrace new learning opportunities from the very beginning.
Our educators intentionally embed these foundational skills into every aspect of our play-based curriculum. As we said, this learning begins in infancy. Here is how our educators support the development of this critical foundational skills from our Explorers through to Engineers:
Explorers –
In our Explorers room, babies develop secure relationships, curiosity, communication, attention, confidence and early self-regulation through warm, responsive interactions and intentional teaching.
Investigators –
Within our Investigators room, children begin developing friendships, cooperation, empathy, language, emotional understanding, independence and collaborative problem-solving as they learn alongside their peers.
Engineers –
By the time children reach our Engineers room, educators intentionally extend these foundations through increasingly complex learning experiences that strengthen executive functioning, critical thinking, leadership, inquiry, resilience and independence while continuing to nurture children's love of learning.
Throughout our School Readiness Program, educators intentionally support children to develop:
• Working Memory by encouraging children to remember multi-step instructions, revisit previous learning, recall information during investigations and apply knowledge to new situations.
• Inhibitory Control (Self-Regulation) by supporting children to manage emotions, wait their turn, control impulses, persist through challenges and make thoughtful decisions.
• Cognitive Flexibility by encouraging children to adapt their thinking, consider different perspectives, solve problems creatively and confidently respond to change.
• Social Competence through collaborative projects, shared decision-making, friendship building, conflict resolution, leadership opportunities and respectful communication.
• Emotional Intelligence by helping children recognise, understand and regulate emotions while developing empathy, resilience and confidence.
• Language and Communication through rich conversations, intentional vocabulary teaching, storytelling, questioning, sustained shared thinking and meaningful interactions that strengthen both oral language and early literacy.
• Fine Motor Development through drawing, painting, construction, threading, manipulating tools, loose parts play, writing opportunities and creative experiences that strengthen the muscles required for future handwriting.
• Gross Motor Development through our risk based approach with climbing, balancing, running, obstacle courses, movement experiences and outdoor play that build coordination, body awareness, strength and confidence the children develop risk competency skills that will support them throughout their lives.
Rather than separating learning into isolated subjects, these capabilities are intentionally developed through inquiry, investigation, play, relationships and authentic experiences that are meaningful to children. This approach reflects contemporary research demonstrating that young children learn most effectively when they are actively engaged in purposeful, play-based experiences supported by responsive educators.
Our goal is not simply to prepare children for their first day of school. Our goal is to nurture curious thinkers, confident communicators, resilient problem-solvers, compassionate friends and capable learners who possess the foundational skills to flourish throughout their education and beyond.
