Preschool 1 at Maroubra Junction Early Education Centre is for children aged 3 to 4, and it is the first of the two years of our school readiness program. It is also the year a child starts to become part of a group. Friendships, disagreements, staying with something long enough to finish it, and the first real steps into letters and numbers. We are open 7.00am to 6.00pm, Monday to Friday, on Level 1 at Pacific Square in Maroubra.
How do you teach literacy and numeracy at 3 years old?
Through play rather than worksheets. Hearing the sounds inside words, recognising their own name, counting things that actually matter to them.
The reason for starting in Preschool 1 is that nothing then has to be rushed in the year before school.
How do children learn to make friends?
By being allowed to get it wrong. Friendships begin in earnest at three. Choosing who to sit beside, negotiating, being left out, working out how to get back in.
We do not smooth over every disagreement. A child who never has to sort one out never learns how, and this is the safest year to practise.
What do you do when a child pushes or snatches?
We give them the sentence to use instead. Three year olds still push, grab and snatch. It is normal, and this is the stage at which it changes.
I was using that. I do not like it. Can I have a turn when you are finished. Then our educators stay close enough that it works.
Asserting yourself with words is a skill, and it takes a year of practice alongside adults who expect it of you.
How do you build concentration?
By letting children finish. Concentration is the one nobody asks about on a tour, and it is among the better predictors of how a child copes in kindergarten.
If something is going well, we do not interrupt it because the timetable says so.
What is the child safety program?
Our preschool children take part in a child safety program, taught in language a three year old can use. They learn that their body belongs to them, and which adults they can tell.
It is not a talk given once. It runs through the year, because a child only uses this when they need it, and they need to have heard it long before then.
How will I know what my child did today?
Through the Kinderm8 Family app. Photos, observations, meals and learning moments, posted as they happen rather than written up at the end of the day.
What is included, and what do I pack?
All meals, sunscreen and hats are included in your daily fee. Meals are cooked fresh on site by our in-house chef, to individual allergy and dietary plans developed with you.
You bring a change of clothes. Messy play, sand and water happen every day and we would rather your child joined in.
What happens after Preschool 1?
Preschool 2, the year before school and the second half of the same program. The same educators build directly on what was started here, which is the whole reason we run it across two years rather than one.
Read about Preschool 2, the year before school
Come and see the room
Ask to see Preschool 1 on your tour. The children’s project work is on the walls, and it will tell you more about the room than we can.
Maroubra Junction Early Education Centre, Level 1, 142 Maroubra Road, Pacific Square, Maroubra NSW 2035. Phone (02) 9315 5588.