Bush Preschool

The teacher takes her preschool class outside the school environment to experience a ‘Bush Preschool’ program. The program is modelled on an exemplary Victorian preschool program. As a preschool educator, she wants her students to take risks, trust themselves and others, to feel success, to be inspired, and to connect with the land and their community within the Rona Glynn Bush Preschool. She leads her students through a diverse range of activities suited to their development characteristics and to their environment. She also reviews the effectiveness of the learning experience with her colleagues.

Rona Glynn Preschool is part of the Ross Park Primary School complex in Alice Springs. It caters for children turning four by June 30th. Two groups attend preschool for 15 hours per week per group. The teacher in charge of the preschool acknowledges the value of site visits to successful programs in other preschools for her own professional learning about ‘bush kinders'. She contends that such programs invite open-ended interactions, spontaneity, risk taking and a connection with nature.