Our facilities
Canterbury Norwood Kindergarten was established in 1947 and whilst many changes have occurred over the years it has maintained its focus as a leading educational facility for young children. The kindergarten rooms provide opportunities for many varied learning experiences to operate at the same time.
LIve music is a huge part of our day. Our music room houses a variety of musical instruments for the children to play and dance along to. Karen, our head teacher reguarly leads the children in song on our beautiful piano.
Fifi and Nicole are beloved class bunnies. The children laugh with glee as they hop around the classroom. On weekends families can take a turn taking the bunnies home and caring for them.
Our two main playrooms are used concurrently each session and give the children opportunities for group play, some large and some small as well as space for individuals to work on their own. The children have time to play in their own ways, to be active, to learn in context and to constantly practise their skills. The rooms are flexible so that spaces can be rearranged to reflect the children’s current interests. Our separate music room is well resourced with a large selection of instruments and props and gives the staff the opportunity for whole group experiences or, where appropriate, smaller more specialised learning based activities.
Our outdoor play space is north facing and very private. It has plenty of winter sun to brighten the colder months and a wonderful cherry tree which inspires us to observe the changing seasons throughout the year. This tree provides a wonderful harvest of fresh cherries in November which the children consume in copious quantities and use to make cherry pie. It is this tree which inspired our kindergarten tag – Belong, Grow, Blossom.
Our playground gives children the opportunity to develop a range of gross motor skills such as climbing, balancing and coordination and it provides many chances for children to use their imaginations and inspire each other to build and change the spaces. We have a wonderful track around the playground to walk, ride and explore along with 2 large sandpits to dig in.
Our ever-growing vegetable gardens provides delicious lettuce, tomatoes and a varied range of herbs. Year round the children keep busy in the garden. Children spend time weeding the garden beds, pruning back the bushes, planting new seedlings, harvesting carrots, snow peas and radishes and then feeding all the excess to the worms. We would hope that all the children leave kinder with a keen awareness of where their food comes from and an understanding about the connection between people and the environment.
