KU Killara Park Preschool recognised for exceptional practice

Date awarded 11/10/2016

Valid until 10/10/2019

KU Killara Park Preschool in Sydney has been awarded the Excellent rating by the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA).

ACECQA Chief Executive Officer Karen Curtis congratulated the service for gaining the highest rating a service can achieve under the National Quality Framework.

“Children at KU Killara Park benefit from a learning environment that encourages creativity, collaborative problem solving and curiosity through the use of technology and the local outdoor environment.”

The service understands the learning opportunities offered by technology, which is embedded across their practice rather than something to be used on special occasions.

Children are the ‘inventors’ of collaborative projects and decide when they should be completed or revisited. One project saw children experimenting with making puppet videos where photos of the environment and children were used to create and narrate a story on an iPad.

“The purposeful way children engage with technology is what makes KU Killara Park special.”

“They are leaders in this space and have been active in development opportunities for early childhood professionals. Their involvement in a recent ‘Using Technology with Children’ video on the Early Childhood Australia online learning hub is just one example of this,” Ms Curtis said.

Noticing a move towards higher density living in their local area, KU Killara Park increased outdoor learning opportunities through a ‘beyond the fence’ program. By using local bushland, children can explore, create artworks and experience the outdoor world with all their senses.

Waterproof ‘adventure suits’ and gumboots enable participation in all kinds of weather, adding a layer of complexity to learning and encouraging children to recognise changes in the landscape and the need to employ different skills to negotiate the terrain in challenging conditions.

“Creating a program that gives children an opportunity to engage with their local environment is the kind of innovative thinking we look for when awarding an Excellent rating,” Ms Curtis said.

Services that receive an overall rating of ‘Exceeding the National Quality Standard’ can apply for the Excellent rating.

More information is available on the ACECQA website and the KU Killara Park Preschool website.