Saturday 7 January 2012

About us


Nature’s Nest Community Childcare is an 18 place centre located in a beautiful bush setting.  Our aim is to support families by creating a loving, calm, safe, and warm environment.

Our day follows nature’s rhythm through storytelling, song, painting, bread baking, healthy seasonal food and lots of play.

Based on Rudolf Steiner’s principals of early childhood our curriculum is rich with early learning experiences that lay the foundations for class room learning including pre literacy skills, social abilities, problem solving,
and critical thinking.

Aust Govt Childcare benefit available
Enrolment or further information
please contact our centre on
44745746

Rainbow Children Playgroup

Welcome to Rainbow Children Playgroup!

For Children 0-6
Held at Nature’s Nest Community Childcare Centre
45b Hawdons rd Moruya
44 745 746

Eurobodalla Steiner playgroup was established in 2004 by a group of parents (and parents to be) who were inspired to create a playgroup based on the philosophies of Rudolf Steiner.

Our Environment:


We focus on creating a loving, safe, secure and warm environment to nourish the children and provide support and friendships to parents

The colour, feel and furnishings of the playgroup room create a warm homelike environment.  In place of finished toys, simple natural materials are provided to encourage imaginative and creative play.

Playgroup is seen as an extension of home, and we come together as a family to share in story telling, play, mealtimes, craft and daily activities that nurture the home environment.

Our playgroup is based on the ideas of Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner.

This means great importance is placed on:
·         Creating an environment in which the young child feels safe and secure
·         Recognising the unfolding stages of the child’s development at these ages 
·         Allowing the children the space to play – as play is seen as the young child’s ‘work’
·         Nurturing children’s sensory experience of the world
·         Encouraging reverence for the natural world
·         Recognising that children learn through imitation, repetition and doing
·         Encouraging respect of others and their property

What we learn in playgroup can flow into our homes and enrich our lives

Our food:

Morning tea at Eurobodalla Steiner Playgroups are a wholesome & nourishing experience.   One or two pieces of fruit or vegetable per family are brought along for our shared morning tea.

Parent Craft:

Parents are invited to undertake simple craft activities while the children enjoy creative play. This allows the children to play in the presence of their parent whilst observing their industrious activity.  Many craft activities may reflect the season or may simply ensure the toys remain in good repair

Job cards are given out to parents at the beginning of each playgroup.  These are simple chores such as washing up, sweeping or leading pack up times.   You may choose a job that is appropriate for you or choose one at random. (Of course you may choose to refrain!)

At playgroup the rhythm will be the same each week.  The rhythm is determined by and is flexible to the needs of the parents and children who attend playgroup, for this reason the rhythm may change from time to time, although it is best to make changes incrementally, so that the children can have time to adjust to the new situation.


Term and Fee Structure:  The playgroup term follows the primary school term, so there is no playgroup during school holidays and public holidays.  Families may attend playgroup casually for a $6 session fee.  Fees may be paid by the term, which is the total of weekly fees minus 2 weeks, for example a 10 week term would cost $48. There are spaces for 18 children at playgroup, term fee paying families will be given priority of places and casual bookings need to be made with the Day Treasurer on a week by week basis.  Please pay term fees by the second week of term.  Fees are given to the Day treasurer at playgroup.
The fees at playgroup cover the cost of the venue and bread baking ingredients and insurance all other equipment and books are purchased from monies raised through fundraising.



Our Mission

Missions and Visions
SITE (Steiner in the Eurobodalla) mission: To foster and administer not-for-profit activities and ventures in the Eurobodalla Shire that incorporate a Steiner Philosophy.

Nature’s Nest mission: Our vision is to create a loving, safe, secure and warm environment, which is an extension of the family home.  We aim to nurture the freedoms of childhood and support family well being by offering a high quality and creative childcare option.
This will be achieved by
  • Creating a natural setting within the centre which is warm, gentle, home-like, uncluttered, and non commercial.  Toys will be simple and hand-made from natural materials, encouraging creative play.
  • Allowing the opportunity for authentic interactions with the world around us. Through nature walks, water play, sand play, and baking bread.
  • Giving children the freedom and space to play.
  • Fostering learning by modelling, through the use of storytelling, songs and circle games that follow a regular seasonal and daily rhythm and routine.
  • Providing foundations for problem solving, critical thinking and life long learning through encouraging the natural curiosity, creativity and wonderment of the child. 
  • Offering structured daily routines that follow a seasonal and daily rhythm that take into account the natural stages, development and mood of each child.
  • Showing reverence and respect for the individuality of each child, by recognising the different temperament and changing needs of each child and finding positive ways to enhance their individual strengths.
  • Nurturing positive attitudes towards each other and our environment through showing mutual respect for one another and reverence for the natural world.
  • Encouraging well being through good nutrition and healthy habits.   Promoting wholesome and seasonal foods and using joyful songs and rhymes to make healthy habits such as washing hands and tidying up a positive experience.
  • Using Rudolf Steiner’s principals of early childhood as a guide.

History

Nature’s Nest was born out of the growing community of parents in our shire who value the Rudolf Steiner philosophy of early childhood education.  It is truly a community organisation which has had input over time from many different families from all over our shire.
The organisation that manages the centre, Steiner In The Eurobodalla (SITE) (formally ESEAI) first began meeting about 17 years ago when many of the parents had children enrolled in the child care centre, which was then Country Cottage child care.  From these meetings the Eurobodalla Steiner Playgroups were gradually formed.  SITE became an incorporated body and continued to meet and organise various activities over the years that enabled our community to practice and learn more about Steiner Education.

Nature’s Nest aims to cater for the needs of families by providing a creative and appropriate childcare option, a centre that houses our playgroups and facility in which to run parent education workshops, craft workshops and seasonal festivals.  In short the centre is not only for those that are enrolled in the day care sessions. Nature’s Nest is a community run, not-for-profit centre.

“The preschool years, the kindergarten years, (the years before formal
schooling) are the most important of all in the education of the child.”
“It is absolutely essential that before we begin to think, before we so
much as begin to set our thinking in motion, we experience the condition
of wonder.”
Rudolf Steiner