When you have a child, no one hands you an instruction book!
That’s why it is valuable to have a strong network around you to support you in the parenting process.
As your child grows and goes through different stages, so too, your support network expands to meet your changing needs.
The years of early childhood are especially important in helping your child develop the resilience and self-confidence needed to tackle future learning opportunities.
When the time comes for your child to go to a Childcare or Pre-school centre, you have an opportunity to build relationships that will prepare you and your child to navigate the years of primary and secondary education ahead.
The educators at the Early Education Centre (EEC) you choose will become part of your support network so it is important to find the right environment with people who are willing to work in partnership with you as a parent.
In the Hastings area, St Joseph’s Family Services uses the ‘Pikler Approach’ at its St Agnes’ Early Education Centre in caring for infants and toddlers.
Pioneered by well-known Hungarian paediatrician, Dr Emmi Pikler, this approach pays close attention to the way infants and toddlers learn from their environment in the first two years of life. She advocated attentive, patient, respectful engagement between caregiver and the child for the development of happy, cooperative relationships.
Pikler also recognised that babies are active participants in their care and learning, needing both freedom of movement and time to learn.
Pikler’s influence is evident at St Agnes’ Early Childcare Centre in the unique indoor and outdoor environments of its Foundation and Discovery rooms, designed especially to appeal to very young children (from 6 weeks to 2 years of age). They are calm, caring and nurturing spaces where your child can safely explore, discover and thrive.
Only educators with the appropriate skills, aptitude and attitude work with infants and toddlers in these rooms. They understand the Pikler Approach and are mindful and deliberate in responding to the needs of each child in their care, tuning into their verbal and non-verbal cues to anticipate each child’s needs.
At St Agnes’ EEC, each Key Educator is responsible for four children only, to enable them to spend quality time with each child.
Caring activities that are part of your child’s personal routine, such as feeding, nappy change and nap time are considered opportunities for gentle, meaningful one on one time for your child and their Key Educator, who also works to communicate with you about your child.
The trust and genuine warmth of the relationship established between the child, family and the Centre’s Key Educator is at the very heart of the educational approach taken by St Joseph’s Family Services.
Kids definitely do not come with an instruction book that it why it is said that ‘it takes a village to raise a child’. As part of the St Joseph’s Family Services ‘village’, you can draw on a great network of support and advice.
If you’d like to know more about placing your child in one our centres please visit our website or give us a call on 6583 6464.
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