Our Philosophy

We acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we learn and play, and we pay our respects to Elders past and present, and to all Aboriginal people who live, work and learn in our community.

At Malvern Memorial Kindergarten (MMK), we value respectful collaboration and reciprocal partnerships with children and their families. We build upon children’s interests, prior knowledge and cultural practices, recognising each child as a capable, competent and active participant in their learning community.

Our philosophy is grounded in Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (EYLF) and guided by the eight VEYLDF practice principles, including reflective practice, partnerships with families, high expectations for every child, respectful relationships and responsive engagement, equity and diversity, assessment for learning and development, integrated teaching and learning approaches, and partnerships with professionals.

We understand that kindergarten is often the first step in a child’s formal education journey. Our role is to provide a nurturing environment that is warm, inviting and conducive to active engagement in open ended indoor and outdoor play, intentional and spontaneous learning, and opportunities for children to make connections and develop in their own time. Educators view each child as unique, with the capacity to grow across all developmental domains—physical, cognitive, language (literacy & numeracy), social and emotional (eg: resilience)—with active support and guidance. We engage in sustained shared thinking and an inquiry based learning approach to extend children’s curiosity, problem solving and growing understanding of their world.

We believe children learn best through play based experiences that are meaningful to them, in environments where they feel safe, secure and appropriately challenged. Our aim is to foster a community of learners—children, families, educators and the wider community—who share knowledge, ideas and perspectives. We recognise that positive transitions, in partnership with families, are essential to children’s success both at kindergarten and in future learning endeavours.

MMK is unwavering in its commitment to child safety, recognising that “all children have the right to feel safe, happy and empowered” and “to be protected from being hurt and mistreated in body or mind” (UNCRC Article 19). We uphold the cultural safety of Aboriginal children, children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and children with varying abilities. In line with the National Model Code, we use only service issued devices for images or videos of children and maintain strict controls over storage and retention, with parental consent required for all images taken at our service. MMK has zero tolerance of child abuse, and every member of our community shares responsibility for ensuring children’s safety, guided by our Child Safe Environment and Wellbeing Policy, Code of Conduct, Behaviour Support Policy, Interactions with Children Policy, eSafety guidance and Family Violence Support Policy.