Notes from the kindergarten
A small, slow-growing collection of pieces written by us, on the things parents ask about. We add a new piece every couple of months when we have something worth saying.
Most early-childhood writing online is either too brief to be useful or too long to read. We try for the middle. Each piece on this blog answers a real question we get asked, in plain language, with concrete examples from how we work at St Ives Chase Kindergarten. Tina (our Director, in early childhood since 1995) writes most of them.
We write for parents on the Upper North Shore who are choosing a preschool or trying to make sense of one their child already attends. If you're comparing centres, the school-readiness piece below is probably the most practically useful place to start. If you keep hearing the word “Reggio” and want a clear explanation, the Reggio explainer is for you. There is also a piece on what a worm farm has to do with early childhood, and two newer guides on when to start preschool and how preschool differs from long day care.
The Reggio approach
What is Reggio Emilia? A Sydney parent's plain-English guide
Reggio Emilia is one of those educational ideas you keep hearing about, but most explanations are written for educators, not parents. This piece walks through where the approach comes from (a town in northern Italy, post-WWII), what it looks like in a classroom day-to-day, and how to tell the difference between a centre that really practises it and one that just uses the word in marketing. Includes the questions to ask on a tour.
School readinessSchool readiness on Sydney's Upper North Shore
What St Ives North Public, Pymble Public, Sydney Grammar St Ives Prep, Knox Grammar and Pymble Ladies' College actually want from a four-year-old before they start. It isn't letters and counting. The 3 things every Kindergarten teacher we've spoken to mentions instead, why those things matter so much in the first 6 weeks of school, and how a good preschool builds them through play rather than worksheets.
SustainabilityFrom worm farm to wattle tree: sustainability at our St Ives kindergarten
How sustainability shows up day to day at our centre, not as a curriculum unit but as a quiet daily habit. The worm farm by the back door that the children check on each morning. The vegetable garden they water and harvest from. The wattle tree they wait for in late winter. Plus a short guide for setting up a worm farm at home if your child is the type who comes back from kindy wanting to keep going.
Starting preschoolWhen should my child start preschool?
Readiness matters far more than age. Why we welcome children from two and a half, the readiness signs to look for at any age, what the NSW school-start rules actually say, and how to think about the hold-back question that so many Ku-ring-gai families weigh up.
Choosing childcarePreschool vs long day care: what's the difference?
The educational program is regulated the same either way; what differs is the hours, the weeks of the year, and the funding behind the fees. This piece explains the practical differences, and why at St Ives Chase you can choose preschool hours or the full day on one enrolment.
Fees & CCSHow much does preschool cost in Sydney?
Our fees upfront: $135 for the 9-to-3 session, $155 for the full day. Then the part nobody shows you: what families actually pay after the Child Care Subsidy and NSW Start Strong fee relief, including why the full day often costs less out of pocket than the shorter session.
What we plan to write next
We add new pieces when we have something worth saying. Some of the topics we're working through:
- How we settle a child in their first 2 weeks at the centre, and what families can do at home to make it easier
- Choosing between long day care and preschool hours, and what actually makes the difference
- What an emergent curriculum (we build the program from the children's own questions) looks like in practice, with a week-by-week example from a recent project the Koalas room ran
- How we work with families whose first language is not English, and what we've learned from the bilingual children in our care
- The transition from preschool to primary school, written by Tina after 20 years of seeing graduates head on to local schools
If there's something you wish we'd write about, please let us know on a tour or by email at [email protected].
Come and see the centre for yourself.
See our spaces, meet our team, and ask the questions that matter to you. Usually 30 minutes, and you're welcome to bring your child.