Getting school-ready is a journey. It begins with your child’s very first day at our welcoming early education and care centres and continues with our dedicated preschool program.
Children learn to make friends and work together, while gaining the skills and independence they need to thrive through the big transition to school.
Welcome to our village, where being school-ready is about being life-ready.
Get more than
school-ready, get
life-ready.
Early Learning is a journey
At SDN, our three play-based program stages reflect key moments in your child’s learning and development. We know that each child learns and grows at their own pace. That’s why we set learning goals that are unique for your child - so no matter where they are on their early learning journey, we’re planning for their progress.
Our program fundamentals
Our program fundamentals describe the big ideas that underpin and enhance our early learning programs. These ideas help you understand why we organise and operate our programs the way we do, and the valuable difference that SDN offers. These fundamentals apply to all play-based stages, with incremental changes that show connection and continuity.
Curriculum through curiosity
We delight in the wonder of early discovery, celebrate children's rapidly changing abilities and we inspire children to pursue their interests, so they can learn about themselves and the world around them.
Small learning groups
Through routines and relationships, we sensitively respond to each child’s needs. We facilitate regular small group experiences that support children's emotional regulation, enhances social skills and broadens perspectives.
Partnering with you
We partner with you so both you and your child feel safe and secure in our care. Together we set goals and share regular progress, so we can support your child in realising their unique potential.
Passionate teachers and educators
Our qualified teams are skilled, caring and patient, guiding children as they master their independence, build knowledge and explore their world. Our preschool program at every centre includes a university-qualified teacher.
Vibrant spaces
Our calm and inviting spaces help children feel safe and sparks their curiosity to move, explore and grow. Our classrooms offer quality resources and our vibrant outdoor spaces encourage children to run, jump, play and enjoy the natural world around them.
Children as citizens
We create spaces where children have a voice, helping each child to actively participate, make decisions and learn from each other. We support them to begin knowing their rights and responsibilities of being local and global citizens.
Our learning pillars
Our learning pillars describe the ways our teachers and educators deliver SDN's early learning programs, with experiences that support children's holistic wellbeing, learning and development.
SDN uses Australia's Early Years Learning Framework. We follow an evidence-backed, play-based learning approach. Children have fun and follow their curiosity, while we weave in vital skills and learning outcomes. Our days are predictable but flexible, blending structured and spontaneous learning, free play, movement and quiet time.
Our centres have a transition to school program where our educators work together with local schools’ kindergarten teachers to prepare your child for a smooth transition, and we support families through the process.
Our infant program
A program that nurtures your child's rapid growth, enriching relationships and boosting brain development.
Relationships and social skills
We practice respect and build respectful relationships through caregiving, routines and spontaneous moments. Our interactions are warm and positive, allowing children to learn from what they see and experience, and to begin imitating prosocial behaviours.
Critical thinking and problem solving
We provide tactile materials so infants can explore with their senses, and actively discover the world around them. Our educators delight in children’s discoveries, giving them time to revisit, repeat and follow their natural curiosities.
Early literacy and numeracy
Our environments are language-rich, with educators describing, reading, singing, questioning and responding to children throughout each day. We sing and talk about numbers, and use positional language to describe a child’s experience of the world – over/under, inside/outside, above/below.
Health, wellbeing and movement
Our environments are calm and predictable with routines that help children feel safe and secure. Bottles and meals are offered with care and attention, supporting those who need help, and introducing social meals and self-feeding. We create a safe environment for children to build motor skills, developing control of their bodies to sit, stand and move, and develop hand-eye coordination and grasping before strengthening fingers.
Science, technology, construction and design
Our spaces are thoughtfully arranged and rich with new experiences, sparking curiosity and inviting children’s sensory exploration. We use language to describe actions and reactions, and questions to encourage children to notice the world around them.
Nature play and sustainability
Our natural outdoor spaces allow children to wonder at the world and develop their senses - the way things move, sound, feel, taste and smell. We model and promote care for all living things and give children opportunities to safely explore the properties of water, plants, sand, timber and more.
Creative arts
We sing and use music throughout the day to build relationships, rituals and joy. We value arts experiences for the processes of discovery children engage in – what a material feels like, what a child can do with it or to it, emotions and shared experiences.
Equity and social justice
We celebrate you as your child’s first teacher, collaborating with you for continuity of care and celebrating your child’s strengths, culture and community. We model respect for diversity, upholding every child’s rights, encouraging and building their capacity. We immerse children in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures through stories, songs, objects and language.
Our toddler program
A program that inspires curiosity, helping your child master their emerging skills and independence.
Relationships and social skills
Through supportive partnerships, we help toddlers and their families navigate bursts of new social skills. We target children’s developing language to support peer interactions, begin to share interests, follow other’s lead and practice turn-taking. We plan for dramatic play, supporting children to act out what they see in the world around them, try new roles and explore their own identity.
Critical thinking and problem solving
We use children’s interests as pathways for hands-on exploration, building new knowledge and vocabulary and helping children transfer that from one topic to another. Lots of chances for sensory play invite children to test, experiment and explore, as they play with cause and effect, and trial and error.
Early literacy and numeracy
We take care with our words and explain what we mean, building children’s vocabulary for peer interactions, independence and interests. We promote experimentation with playdough, clay, scissors, pencils and tongs to strengthen finger muscles, while children begin to give meaning to their creations. We use repetitive and predictable language in songs, rhymes and stories to help children become aware of sequences and patterns.
Health, wellbeing and movement
Our spaces allow toddlers to move their whole bodies, letting them feel powerful as they climb, carry, jump, run, balance and scramble. Our days offer predictable routines and the joy of group learning to develop self-help skills like handwashing, looking after belongings, using the toilet and managing mealtimes. Whole hands are strengthened with playful experiences involving pinching, pulling, squeezing, pouring, stacking, stirring and rolling.
Science, technology, construction and design
We encourage hands-on, sensory experiences that invite children to test, experiment manipulate and explore while building scientific language. We value children’s ‘how, why, where, who, what and when’ questions, prioritising time and space to explore the answers.
Nature play and sustainability
Our outdoor spaces allow children to explore the science and wonder of nature, discover mini beasts and habitats and begin to understand the relationship between all living things. We provide spaces that help children be resourceful, giving them natural materials to manipulate, invent and investigate. We offer child-size tools and hands-on experiences to help children begin to care for their environment – watering, harvesting, sweeping and noticing.
Creative arts
We promote the active pursuit of creativity and offer painting, drawing, playdough, claywork, songs, music and dance to express and regulate emotions, develop motor skills and build social connections. Our programs use art experiences to help children explore and make sense of their interests - where marks begin to represent things and stories unfold.
Equity and social justice
We build connections with children and families and between them, valuing and modelling a community where everyone is welcomed. Our teachers and educators give children language to support social interactions, guiding them to articulate their likes and dislikes, to listen to others and to understand emotions. We acknowledge Country with children, enjoy First Nations stories and songs, and build connections to the land.
Our preschool program
A program that fosters your child's creativity and social connections, getting them school-ready and life-ready.
Relationships and social skills
We take the time to get to know each child and their family, creating a sense of belonging and safety. We target children’s diverse ways of communicating, building self-awareness, self-confidence, turn-taking, cooperation and negotiation. Our programs give children the chance to both lead and follow others, establishing some of their first friendships around shared interests.
Critical thinking and problem solving
Our longer-term projects engage different learning styles, allow children to explore an interest from multiple perspectives, and develop their sustained attention and persistence. Our open-ended resources allow children to use them in new and creative ways, while our teachers and educators follow children’s lead and support them to test, experiment and explore.
Early literacy and numeracy
We have a playful, diverse and hands-on approach to early literacy, with multimodal communication, writing, stories and song. We notice, respond to and encourage children’s efforts to communicate. Our approach to early numeracy includes spatial awareness, counting, grouping, ordering, recognising sameness and difference. Teachers and educators talk about numbers throughout each day, and music and movement give children a sense of repetition and pattern.
Health, wellbeing and movement
Our environments are joyful, and staff recognise children’s need for confident, warm and patient support. We cook together and use mealtimes for ritual, connection and learning about healthy food. We promote running, skipping and climbing so children can develop greater control of their movement, balance and coordination. We strengthen small muscles for pencil holding through tasks like dressing and eating, and through drawing, building and playdough.
Science, technology, construction and design
We embed scientific processes like observational drawing, measuring, hypothesizing, experimenting and recording data into projects, and spark curiosity with questions about the world. We provide children with everything from building blocks to technology, with iPads, cameras and robots used to explore, research, create and investigate.
Nature play and sustainability
Our outdoor spaces and tactile materials stimulate children’s senses and spark their curiosity about the natural world. Our approach lets children test their limits, learn from mistakes, demonstrate their capacity and develop a sense of being brave and powerful. Our programs feature recycling, composting, worm-farming, gardening, water conservation and animal-care experiences that help develop sound values and sustainable practices.
Creative arts
We value creative arts as a language for self-expression, with art and sensory materials that help children make sense of their world. We provide props, musical instruments and tools so children can explore at their own pace and with other children. Our educator’s respond to children’s passions, ideas, interests and questions with chances to test out their ideas through song, dance, music composition, claywork, drawing and painting.
Equity and social justice
Our environments are diverse and inclusive, recognising each child as an individual with unique strengths and stories, and acknowledging the family as the child’s first teacher. We encourage children to ask questions and to think critically about what they view as fair or unfair. We acknowledge, honour and celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as the first peoples of Australia, and learn about their rich cultures, country and history.
Our stories
Experience our SDN village
Join the waitlist
Ready to join? Place an application for up to three of any of our SDN early childhood and care centres now.
Book a tour
Tour any of our centres to learn more about our preschool program and experience the SDN village.