Self-empowerment, community engagement, mindfulness and emotional intelligence aren’t just catchphrases at Lilyfield Early Learning Centre.
This Award-winning service in Sydney’s inner west empowers each and every child to have a voice and choice, with programs that encourage under-fives to make big decisions, care for themselves, and connect with others.
Lilyfield ELC provides a curriculum for children aged four and below that reflects the unique diversity of the children, families, and local community.
To learn about all the incredible initiatives that are happening at Lilyfield Early Learning Centre, we spoke with Centre Director, Sharon Alexander.
Lilyfield ELC recently won the 2021 HESTA Early Childhood Education and Care Award for Advancing Pedagogy and Practice. Congratulations on this, and for parents who are unfamiliar with the term, what is ‘early learning pedagogy,’ and why is it so important for children?
Thank you! We are incredibly humbled to be selected as winners in this category.
Early learning pedagogy, to put it in simple terms, refers to the ‘how’ or practice of educating learning. It is very important because the instructional techniques and strategies enable learning to take place, and provide opportunities for our children to acquire knowledge, skills, attitudes and dispositions.
At Lilyfield ELC, we view teaching and learning as an art form and one which is infinitely creative and unique.
At your childcare centre, you empower children to have a voice and choice, particularly through ‘Junior Parliament.’ What does this program involve, and what are its benefits for under fives?
Children are born with rights, including the right to be consulted, heard, and listened to in matters that affect them. These rights are at the heart of our Junior Parliament, which was envisaged to empower our youngest minds.
We have two Members of Parliament (MPs) from three of our eldest classes who meet regularly to discuss social issues or to be part of the decision- and policy-making.
Our educators offer opportunities for our children to collaborate, vote and contribute to our parliamentary process. Our child MPs have been responsible for many successes, including:
- Designing our outdoor space
- Polling for their chosen koala to adopt after discussing the bushfires
- Helping to make masks during the pandemic, then donating them to our local community
- Making worry dolls for our local community during Child Protection Week, and recently,
- Trying to create connections with a non-profit organisation to become pen pals with children who have recently arrived from Afghanistan.
Advocating for children’s rights is important to us and forms the basis of the program we provide. We believe in starting a conversation, and our Junior Parliamentary process has demonstrated unique opportunities to celebrate and empower children by giving them a voice and a choice in how we do things.
What we recognise and appreciate is the social justice perspective this program offers, and hearing how our children feel and respond to issues, such as the bush fires, Covid-19 and climate change.
We recognise how self-identity, context-rich, and respectful accounts of children’s strengths and interests can be interwoven to provide achildcare curriculum that is rich and meaningful to our community of young learners.
We believe that when children are curious, they explore, ask questions, and solve problems with greater persistence and commitment.
Our educators facilitate higher-order thinking skills, such as critical thinking, hypothesising, and enquiring to further enrich our children’s learning. These meetings spark projects in their rooms, and these projects are skillfully co-constructed between our children and their educators to reflect current interests and knowledge.
All in all, we believe that a greater depth of learning can be achieved with a focus on providing an authentic real-life context.
Lilyfield ELC also has a ‘Mindful Moments’ program. What does this teach children and educators, and how will the program be expanded going forward?
As we navigate unprecedented times, we have launched a project aimed at mental health and well-being, which we feel is particularly pertinent as we face the challenges Covid-19 has presented.
Our Mindful Moments program is an integral part of our Be Healthy, Be Happy, Be Me centre project, which encompasses guided meditation, Dreamtime stories, breathing techniques, and yoga for our children.
Mindfulness is the ability to pay attention to the events happening in the present moment. In a busy, ever-changing world, it is so important for us to teach our children how to pause, check in with how they are feeling, and reflect. By bringing the focus to our feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment, we are not allowing our minds to worry about the past or present.
At Lilyfield ELC, we have one professional yoga and dance teacher in our teaching family and going forward, we would love more of our staff to receive professional training in yoga and mindfulness for our children, empowering our young minds and teaching team to connect with their inner being.
How can parents encourage emotional literacy at home, and why is this so important for young children aged four and below
As the beautiful saying by advice columnist, Ann Landers, goes, ‘It is not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves, that will make them successful human beings.’
This saying couldn’t be more apt when it comes to fostering emotional literacy in our children.
Through research, we know emotional intelligence is a vital element that should be nurtured when supporting children’s development and well-being in the early years and beyond.
We believe, it is first important to truly understand what emotional literacy is. Emotional intelligence refers to having the skills and ability to understand, utilise, and manage your own feelings. It also includes the capacity to understand and respond to the feelings of others.
Through the research we did to build on our Mindful Moments program, we realised that the most important part of this journey is to be able to recognise, understand, label, express and regulate these emotions with our children.
For parents and educators, spending one-on-one time with children to talk about these feelings is crucial.
Children’s books are a great way of introducing these feelings and big emotions with under-fives, introducing them to new vocabulary for expressing emotions and relating to feelings in the stories.
It is important for every child to feel like they have a space and a voice, and that their voice is heard.
What do you love about working at Lilyfield ELC, Sharon, and what are you most proud of?
Lilyfield ELC is a special place, and it’s a piece of home for everybody. It is a place where everyone can be their true self, and where diversity is celebrated.
I love that we are able to make a difference, and what we find most rewarding is creating a space where children have a choice, a voice, and are empowered.
In the words of Greta Thunberg, we believe that ‘No one is too small to make a difference’ and this is something that informs our practice each and every day.
We recognise our children as active citizens and agents of change within our community. We are incredibly proud to have cultivated a culture of creativity and innovation, with all the learning opportunities we have been able to create for our children and their families.
As a service, we have come a long way and continue to strive for excellence in everything we do, and at Lilyfield ELC, the sky’s the limit!
Lilyfield ELC is indeed among the best childcare provider that provides a unique school care experience for children. Visit this page to guide you with getting the right childcare service for your child, and check out Lilydale childcare providers here.
