Glen Iris Road Uniting Kindergarten

Our kindergarten offers a variety of indoor and outdoor play areas and equipment, presenting boundless opportunities for the physical and social development of your children. Safe, upgraded play equipment will keep them entertained for hours, while natural features like our garden and worm farm teach them the importance of caring for the environment.

Our kindergarten features:

• Planned and intentional indoor spaces
• Sandpit with new surrounding decking
• Mud pit
• Gardening beds with new planter boxes
• Shade sail
• Play area with climbing equipment
• Recycling area encouraging sustainability and caring for the environment
• Gross motor play equipment for activities such as climbing, skipping, throwing and catching
• Worm farm
• Water tank
• A church hall we can access for special activities and on wet days.

Children enjoy a range of activities that expose them to the world in engaging and educational ways. Participating in sustainable practices like recycling and tending to the worm farm, children also experience excursions, incursions, and programs that teach them about arts, responsibility, and the diversity of cultures in their community.

In the past, these have included:

• A "Grade 5 Buddy Program" with Glen Iris Primary school
• The "Responsible Pet Ownership" program
• A yearly farm excursion
• Recycling materials and water
• Composting
• Promoting sustainable living
• Maintaining the worm farm.

Past excursions included:

• Myuna Farm - Doveton
• Royal Botanic Gardens
• Melbourne Museum.

Special guests and visitors in the past have included:

• Melbourne Museum
• Wiggly Worm dance company
• Wildlife exposure (sea creatures)
• Australian wildlife lectures
• Bollywood dancing
• One Song Drumming (Native American drumming)
• Librarians from the Ashburton Library.

Kindergarten is a time for your child to learn about basic nutrition, food safety, the importance of exercise, and sustainable practices preparing them for the future. Children relish in fun activities such as gardening, cooking, and playtime encouraging healthy life choices.

Some of these activities include:

• Growing our own produce in our garden (e.g. herbs, vegetables, fruit)
• Practising and emphasising food safety
• Discussing healthy foods and having various food routines such as “brain food”, progressive meal times and whole group meal times depending on the needs of each individual group

Parents and carers help us to build a sense of community at our kindergarten while enriching their child’s learning experience. We encourage every family to join in and celebrate cultural events, talk to the children about exciting topics, and take an active role in the many wonderful activities happening at our Centre.

Families can also:

• Volunteer their time to provide support and resources for our programs
• Assist with fundraising
• Join the parent advisory committee.

We can have all forms of communication translated for families who speak languages other than English. We currently run a Chinese language program supported by a qualified Chinese
teacher and supplement this with the Early learning Languages Australia (ELLA)
program through I-pad apps and play.

Our educators are experienced in working with children who live with a range of physical and intellectual disability or have experienced challenges and trauma.

Glen Iris Rd Uniting Kinder operates a Nature Kinder program throughout the year (summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring) at the Glen Iris Wetlands. Through our program we hope to connect your children and family with the local environment, and to create a lifelong appreciation of the joys nature and an active lifestyle can offer.

The children in the 4/5yr old groups will attend approx. 4 times each term and the 3 yr old
group will attend as is deemed appropriate once the capabilities of the group of children have been assessed by staff.

4-year -old kindergarten

$613 per term

Lizards - Tuesday and Thursday 8.30am -4.00pm

Koalas - Wednesday and Friday 8.30am -4.00pm

3-year-old kindergarten

$449 per term

Possums - Monday 9.15am - 2.15pm