Programs
Our approach offers a balance of play-based learning, structured activities, and opportunities for creativity and exploration in both our indoor and outdoor environments. Resources or experiences are incorporated into the educational program based on children’s interests and are designed to equip children with skills to wonder, create, understand, question, think, evaluate and discover. Britt & McLachlan (2015)
Our programs are scaffolded by the Early Years Learning Framework, children’s individual needs and interests with parental input. We focus on each child's physical, emotional and cognitive needs using a Whole Child approach. Educators take an active role in nurturing, supporting and promoting children’s relationships and social skills, initially focussing on building secure relationships between children and educators and then supporting development of positive relationships with others.
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At Ganeinu we offer Morah Time daily in all groups. During Morah Time our Jewish educators introduce children to Jewish culture, traditions and values, the Hebrew language and food through song, stories, and experiences and these are embedded into the broader program by all our educators. Each Friday a special atmosphere is created to celebrate the arrival of Shabbat. We get together as a whole Ganeinu community and Challah is prepared and baked, the kiddush is recited and Shabbat songs are sung. For Jewish children we extend this program in the preschool years with deeper learning, which can be continued during primary school years in Chabad Hebrew School, also part of Ganeinu -Gan Izzy.
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The centre's programs are underpinned by Munch & Move which is a NSW Health initiative that promotes the healthy development of children from birth to 5 years by promoting physical activity, healthy eating and reduced screen time.
Ganeinu offers Letterland in our Preschool room as one of our pre-literacy programs to equip children with phonic skills preparing them for school. Letterland is a phonics program where children are taught shapes and sounds of letters by assigning to them imaginary names and shapes and presenting them as living in the fictional land of Letterland. Letterland characters transform plain black letter shapes into pictogram characters. By translating the full range of dry phonic facts into engaging stories, children are motivated to listen, to think and to learn. These stories explain letter shapes and sounds, allowing children to progress quickly to word building, reading and writing.
In addition, we incorporate Bal Yoga, a program helping children develop relaxation, coordination and mindfulness skills to last them a lifetime. Bal Yoga for Kids is a wonderful program that improves balance, develops coordination, teaches body awareness, builds strength and flexibility, mindful of breath and relaxation, stimulates imagination encourages memory and listening skills and an appreciation of music.
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Our programs are communicated to parents through Kinderm8, an app-based solution used to keep parents in touch with their child’s day, be it photos of an activity they have been involved in, something new they have learnt, or more simply what they ate for lunch. This system builds up a portfolio of learning and experiences of a child's time at Ganeinu.
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Commitment to Child Safety Statement
Ganeinu-Gan Izzy is committed to child safety. We want children to feel safe and happy in our organisation and comfortable to speak with us if they have any concerns. We aim to be deserving of their trust by dealing with any allegations and safety concerns in a transparent and confidential manner. We aim for children to feel culturally safe if they come from a cultural and/or linguistically diverse background, and to provide an emotionally and physically safe environment for all children including those with a disability.
Tiny Treasures (0-2 years)
We believe in secure relationships as the foundations of learning and our infant room offers warmth and love in a safe and stimulating environment. Our educators value the individual routines of each child to ensure smooth home to daycare transitions underpinned by a close family connection between family and educators. As children learn through play, educators provide a variety of developmental environments encouraging children to explore and develop within a loving and nurturing environment. Throughout the day, educators involve the children in music, movement and stories, essential for developing children’s language and coordination, varying activities and set ups to accommodate the interest and abilities of the children in our care.
Torah Tots (2-3 years)
In Torah Tots we provide a program that offers balance between educational and play based activities while incorporating the development of language and socialisation, both critical during this fundamental stage of childhood. The children in the group will be enhancing their turn taking and listening skills while realising their place within their class environment. We work with children to develop their own individual sense of belonging within the group. We promote rewarding relationships for children with their peers as well as their teachers. Our educators work with you as part of a team, supporting your children with toilet training, personal hygiene and other self help skills, providing group learning and social experiences both indoors and outdoors.
Wombats Preschool (3-4 years)
Our Wombats program offers the opportunity to extend children's basic physical and cognitive skills and develop the fundamental social, emotional, fine and gross motor skills they will require moving forward. Educators ensure the learning environment is rich and stimulating, building on both group and individual interest areas to allow children opportunities to start to make sense of their world and communicate their understandings to others through one on one interactions as well as group presentations in a "news" format. We believe children’s learning is accelerated when you create strong connections between their interests and home life. We expose the children to literacy through the introduction of Letterland where they will begin learning their sounds through colourful and musical characters, encourage development of story-telling skills as well as early sequencing and numeracy development.

Numbats Preschool (4-5 years)
The emphasis on our Numbats program is school readiness; literacy, numeracy, science, fundamental movement skills and overall health and wellbeing . We facilitate OT and speech testing from local professionals and make recommendations to parents based on our teacher's knowledge and experience. From a social and educational perspective, we provide our children with the necessary skills and development to be able to enter their first year at primary school with confidence and the potential to be leaders, making recommendations to parents throughout the year regarding their child’s readiness for school, and any areas of focus based on our educators observations.

