St Columba’s Community Kindergarten has been caring for and educating the children of Sale since 1970.
Many of our children are from farming families with parents playing an integral role in helping support the kinder and educational curriculum which has a strong focus on agriculture, environmental stewardship, and community.
We are conveniently located around the corner from Wellington Shire Council. Our kindergarten features a large outdoor space adorned with beautiful old shady trees and a yard wall creatively decorated with paintings by our children.
To showcase our facility we have created a 3-D Virtual Tour with a dollhouse view and a highlight reel.
Our town features beautiful natural surroundings extending beyond the doors of St Columba’s. Our yard has an enormous old tree and a large palm which provides dappled sunlight and protective shade during summer. With plenty of outdoor and indoor spaces and modern facilities, our environment offers a variety of space and support for every child to thrive.
Our kindergarten features:
We help children build a connection with the land they live on and we make it a priority to embed Aboriginal perspectives throughout the program. With fun, educational activities, ranging from gardening, worm farming, and farm excursions, our children develop sustainable living practices and a sense of stewardship for the natural environment.
A big art of our program is our fortnightly Nature Kinder Program where we visit an offsite local area for the day. This is a wonderful chance for the children to learn about nature, the local flora and fauna and caring for the environment. This occurs each Wednesday in terms 2,3&4. The children meet at kinder and we go by bus. The children are picked up from kinder at normal pick up time having had a buy and fulfilling day.
Our kindergarten is part of the Early Language Program and the children learn Auslan Sign Language
A qualified teacher visits the kinder for 3 hours a week to work with the children and we have embedded the language throughout the kinder week.
Cooking is a regular experience at kinder as we have a daily Breakfast Program which incorporates cereal, toast and a variety of healthy cooking ideas.
At our kindergarten:
To limit our footprint we regularly go for walks to a variety of local places such as the library, post office, fire station, art gallery, dentist and many other interesting sites.
We offer a number of adventurous excursions to help children get in touch with the local community and environment, including visits to:
We also have a fantastic range of visitors and special guests for children to learn about the world around them from the comfort of our kindergarten. These include visits from:
We work closely with children and families to help them develop healthy and nutritious eating habits. We run a much-loved daily breakfast program which helps children kick-start their day and fulfil key social and emotional needs of young children.
To guide children towards making healthy choices:
We also participate in community health and wellbeing programs, including:
St Columba’s has been a much-loved institution in the community for nearly 50 years. That’s because we foster close relationships with community members and our educators enable families to feel welcomed and included. Teaching children the importance of building community relationships plays an important role in developing their feelings of belonging and security.
Parents and families can participate when:
Various people, groups or services within our community that we engage with regularly include:
Our educators always welcome new families from diverse backgrounds. English is our primary language for written and spoken communication with parents and families. However, we can have all forms of communication translated for families who speak languages other than English, including Vietnamese, Arabic, Chinese, and Cambodian.
We have a small but growing Bilingual children’s library with books in Arabic, Chinese, Vietnamese and a few other languages.
Our educators are experienced in working with children who live with a range of physical and intellectual disability or have experienced challenges and trauma. Our educators are equipped with the skills to provide safe and nurturing environments to all children.
All educators have been training in Protective Behaviours and we run regular Protective Behaviours intentional teaching sessions.
4 year old kindergarten
$395.00 per term
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 8.45am - 1.45pm
3 year old kindergarten
$395.00 per term
Friday 9am - 2.00pm
For interest in a kindergarten place for 2023, please complete the Uniting expression of interest form.
For a place this year, we will be back in contact with you within a few days to discuss your care needs.
For more information or if you’d like to arrange a visit, please Get in touch or call us on 1800 183 103.
Fill out an expression of interest form to find out more
Fill out an expression of interest form to find out more
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