Avenues Early Learning Centre - Bowen Hills

Included in the fees are extra-curricular classes such as:

Music program – the music room allows the children to explore a variety of different musical instruments, including the centre piano.

Atelier – the children visit the atelier daily, with the centre’s in-house art teacher, where they explore various types of art including clay work, shadow play, and papier mache.

Language program – the centre’s in-house Mandarin teacher engages the children in Mandarin classes daily. Each age group experiences a language class which is tailored to the room's current project.

JELIC – this is a cognitive development experience that consists of a range of different puzzles. Each puzzle encourages the child to work independently and use all 5 areas of their brain to develop their cognitive skills.

Adventure playroom – this room allows the children to engage in open ended experiences by using recycled materials to create.

Library – the library holds a range of different books that the children are able to borrow to take home, or back to their rooms. The children also enjoy a visit from the New Farm Library once a month to engage them in reading.

Dandiiri library – once a month the children have a Zoom Story Time with the ladies at the Dandiiri Library. They sing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander songs with the children and share Dreaming Stories.

Excursions - the children enjoy outings to Perry Park to engage in outdoor games and to promote physical education. They also like going to the post office to post letters to their penpals in Melbourne, or to Bunnings to talk about sustainable practices. 

Incursions - these are important to the centre, and include regular visits from the Fortitude Valley Police Station, Kemp Place Fire Station, Surf Life Saving, and many other community heroes.

Avenues Early Learning Centre Bowen Hills follows the Reggio Emilia approach. Educators view every child as a competent, capable, and unique learner, with a vast array of skills, knowledge, abilities, life experiences, and endless possibilities. The centre endeavors to build, nurture, and share each child’s learning journey by encouraging their uniquely different qualities of character, wellbeing, and identity. 

The team believe it is their role to foster each child’s understanding of respect and help build their resilience. Educators guide children to be active participants in their learning and to become responsible citizens within their community and the world.  

Joeys: 6 weeks – 15 months 

The experiences in this room range depending on the children’s ages. They engage in a lot of sensory play such as sand, finger painting, playdough, slime etc. They focus on gross motor skills such as tummy time, crawling, and walking.

Wombats: 15 months – 2 years 

The children engage in a range of skills that will help them progress through their life. They start to look at ABC’s, colours, and shapes. They also focus on fine motor skills such as holding a paintbrush and turning the pages of books. Gross motor skills consist of climbing, running, and bike riding. The children also begin to learn responsibilities such as tidying the room and seating themselves at the table.

Kangaroos: 2 years – 3 years 

In the Kangaroos room the children further extend on their learning in the Wombats room. The educators extend the children’s knowledge of ABC’s, colours, and shapes; as well as incorporating more difficult puzzles and story books, rather than picture books. The children also begin to explore group games and group projects.

Crocodiles: 2.5 years – 3.5 years

The children in the Crocodiles room are beginning to recognise their name and are working on recognising letters and numbers. They are starting to recognise more numbers and are able to count. The educators provide tracing experiences to allow the children to practice writing letters, numbers, and their name. The children do a lot of scissor practice and use glue sticks. The children in this room also begin JELIC. Towards the end of the year, the educators begin to encourage the children to make their own beds and pack away their bags.

Koalas:  3 years – 5 years (Kindergarten) 

The children take part in a school readiness program in this room, spending time on numeracy and literacy group time each day, as well as show and tell to develop their communication skills. The kindergarten program has a strong focus on developing skills needed for school such as, name writing, letter formation, and counting skills. The children are also taught self help skills such as packing their own bags and putting on their own shoes.

The in house chef at Avenues Early Learning Centre Bowen Hills provides freshly made morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, and a late snack for the children. All food is all prepared in accordance with the Australian Health Eating Guide and everything is created with the children’s health and nutrition in mind. 

The centre has a herb garden which allows the children to care for the plants which are then used in the kitchen for their lunches. The chef often talks to the children about ‘farm to plate’ and the children are able to watch the chef at work through the large window in the kitchen.

The menus are created in conjunction with families and the children. Each season the menu changes and the chef receives feedback from staff, families, and children before making any changes. The children’s favourite meals are spaghetti bolognaise, cheesy scrolls, and sandwiches.

The meals are also prepared in accordance to the children’s health needs, for example we provide a vegetarian option of the spaghetti bolognaise for children who are vegetarian or vegan.