Our approach
At our Early Learning Centre, love and belonging form the foundation of everything we do. Your daughter, affectionately known as our Penrhosies, will not only love being a part of our school but will also feel a deep sense of belonging in our warm, welcoming, and stimulating environment. We understand the significance of continuity between home and the classroom, especially during the early years. That's why we prioritise creating an enjoyable learning experience for our Penrhosies, guided by our dedicated staff who are considered almost like family by the girls themselves. As parents, you are your child's first and most influential teachers, and we highly value your ongoing involvement as an essential component of our comprehensive learning support system for each and every girl.
We firmly believe that childhood is not a race. We encourage our Penrhosies to embrace each experience and cherish every day, fostering happiness, wonder, curiosity, and exploration. Recognising and respecting each child's individual sense of time, we create a calm and unhurried environment that allows for personal choices without pressure. We facilitate inquiry by encouraging hypotheses and experimentation, and we further expand our investigations by following the children's lead.
We actively listen, seeking to gain the deepest understanding of your daughter's perception of the world and her place within it. We place great emphasis on empathy, expression of ideas, and emotional awareness and we actively engage with and respect our Penrhosies as active young collaborators in their own learning journeys.
What we offer
- Love and belonging – above all else, we know our girls flourish when they know they are loved and feel they belong.
- Focus on personal growth at an individual pace – we build strong foundations for each girl’s extended learning journey through Penrhos.
- Comradery – our Penrhosies value their friendships and learn to support one another.
- A safe and caring community – our parents feel very much part of the Early Learning Centre (ELC) family.
- Dedicated class teachers – parents always know who will be with their daughter; her teacher is a constant figure in her world, who is always accessible and available for parents.
- Literacy and numeracy support teachers – our girls are fully supported with any specific learning difficulties, and are also extended when they demonstrate high intellectual potential, to ensure that each and every child is individually engaged on her learning journey from the very beginning.
- High standards and expectations for learning – girls achieve more in a happy, secure environment.
- Stimulation and balance – a timetable that is specifically aligned with children’s attention span.
- Small class sizes – trusting relationships are formed, on the basis of which our teachers provide personalised plans for each Penrhosie.
- Specialist subjects in our ELC include Art, Music, Drama, Dance, Sport, Library, Language (Mandarin).
- Strings Program Year 2 – each girl learns to play a string instrument, so that she can most fully appreciate the wonder of music.
Early Learning teaching practice
Our pedagogy – or teaching practice – is complex but balanced to ensure those all-important literacy and numeracy standards are met, as the foundation for all your daughter’s future learning. We will keep you informed of her progress, every step of the way; we will celebrate each success with you, and we will partner together in supporting your daughter across any bumps there may be in the road of her journey.
We understand this time of your daughter’s life is a vital stage in her development, during which it is important for her to enjoy positive facilitated and play-based learning experiences to inspire her lifelong learning. The early years form the base upon which to build competence in all aspects of girls’ development – learning and behaviour, physical and mental health. We understand that all children have different strengths, challenges and interests – strong specialist, extension and support programs contribute to the provision of a balanced curriculum which is designed to give each Penrhosie every opportunity to achieve her full potential.
The strength of the red dragon
The red Penrhos dragon is a wonderful symbol for our girls – when she is fully grown, she is timeless and magnificent, loyal and empathetic, ethical and kind. From their very first day with us, Penrhosies follow the little red dragon – they are encouraged to form their own beliefs, to speak to what they believe in, to have the courage of their convictions, the strength to speak up for themselves and for others, to do what is right and to stand up for what they believe in. And from little acorns do great oaks grow, little dragons learn to fly, and Penrhosies grow into Penrhosians – young women who are committed to the pursuit of their dreams, to supporting each other and to making a positive contribution in the world.
Our little red dragon principles:
Discovery: promoting curiosity and play-based learning
Respect: leading by example in demonstrating respect for all members of our community, adults and children
Appreciation: all good deeds are recognised and rewarded – by replacing expectation with appreciation, our world becomes a better place
Growth: numeracy and literacy from day one
One family: girls, teachers, parents and community members working together to achieve our Penrhos family goal of happy, healthy, balanced girls
Natural environment: ‘going natural’ as far as we can – our environment enhances and reflects each girl’s learning and development.
Research shows girls do especially well in single-sex learning environments – we can see this from the earliest numeracy and literacy testing to tertiary entrance scores much later. Penrhos girls are empowered from the very beginning; they are supported and encouraged to behave competitively, without inhibition or social pressure; our girls become generally more confident and assertive in both their learning and personal environments, performing at higher-than-average levels in sport and physical education from the very early years.
Dragon X
Dragon X is an extended school day for Penrhos students, from Kindergarten to Year 6. Dragon X is managed and staffed by the Penrhos Junior School, including many of the Early Learning EAs and we are pleased to be able to provide this service for our families. Dragon X complements our enhanced co-curricular program.
The home base for Dragon X is the Junior School library. Penrhos Dragon X key staff oversee the program and supervise students each morning and afternoon. In the morning, students can arrive from 7.15am and will be directed to classrooms on opening at 8.15am. In the afternoon, students will attend Dragon X from 3.15pm to 5.30pm. From 3.30pm to 4.30pm, students may participate in a co-curricular activity and then return to the library. Dragon X and co-curricular staff work together to direct students to, and from, co-curricular activities.
To keep the students engaged, our Dragon X Coordinator runs daily activities including:
- Monday, music and movement
- Tuesday, construction and STEM
- Wednesday, arts and crafts
- Thursday, cooking
- Friday, movie day
The cost of our Dragon X program is just $15 per afternoon session from 3.15pm until collection (by 6pm). The same fee applies for girls who wish to attend Dragon X from 4.30pm, following co-curricular activities, up until collection by 6pm; if a student is collected promptly at 4.30pm after participating in her co-curricular activity, no fee will be applied. There are no fees for the Dragon X morning program (7.15am to 8.15am).
Enrolling in Dragon X is easy – simply sign up via the Compass portal, which is accessible to all parents once their daughter commences at Penrhos College.
