Our Philosophy

Play, Learn, Grow

At Happy House we believe our philosophy is the foundation of our service and drives our commitment to high-quality education and care for young children. Our philosophy is supported by our policies and procedures and guides all aspects of our operation and practice.

Our service acknowledges and pays rest to the land and the traditional families of the Yugambeh region of Southeast Queensland and their Elders past present and emerging.

 Relationships

 “No significant learning occurs without a significant relationship”-Dr. James Comer.

 We believe that secure, respectful, and reciprocal relationships are the foundation to all learning. Positive relationships enable children to feel safe, secure and supported for a lifetime of learning, connectedness, and interdependence. Through strong relationships, children learn how to confidently interact and communicate with others, to express emotions, and to make sense of the world around them.

As a centre we value the role of families and believe that parents and extended family are the children’s first and primary teachers. We believe in collaborative partnerships with our families, to gain and share information about each child and to ensure they reach their full individual potential.

We appreciate the values, customs, and backgrounds that families, educators, and the wider community bring to our centre and take pride in incorporating this diversity into our daily practices and educational programs.

Learning Environments

We believe in providing a rich play-based learning environment where children’s learning is inspired and greatly led by their interests. Our learning spaces invite open-ended interaction, spontaneity, risk-taking, exploration, discovery, and connection with nature. We believe that children learn best in learning environments that promote holistic play and support and extend each child’s learning opportunity to problem solve, respond positively to challenges, experiment and make their own inquiries, co-operate with others, share ideas, and communicate with others. We believe in interest-based, child-led learning environments that foster children’s intrinsic ability to investigate, explore and wonder, strengthening their development and nourishing their sense of belonging, being and becoming.

Educators

We believe as educators that it is our role to respect and support each other and work collaboratively in providing consistent, high-quality education. Through these relationships we cultivate a strong sense of teamwork and build positive and respectful relationships thereby creating a nurturing environment for both children and families.

We recognise that educators are important role models for children whose interactions with children aim to encourage the growth of children’s self-identity, self-esteem, and overall love of learning.

When educators establish respectful and caring relationships with each other, the children, and the families, they can work together to construct a curriculum and learning experiences relevant to each child. These experiences gradually expand children’s knowledge and inform the new phases of each child’s learning journey.  

 Early Years Framework

Happy House recognises that children are unique individuals and aims to enhance all areas of development. We use the National Quality Framework to guide our curriculum decision-making process and as part of our ongoing cycle of learning that assists in planning, implementing, and evaluating children’s learning.

We believe each child’s current knowledge, ideas, culture, abilities, and interests are the foundation of our program. Our role as educators is to respond to children’s voices and play choices that influence intentional teaching moments and scaffold learning. Educators will provide learning environments that are flexible, open-ended and cater to each child’s individual age and stage of development and aims to meet the 5 learning outcomes.

 Developed in consultation with management, staff, children and families at Happy House January 2023.