Our History
Rockhampton South Kindergarten (Rocky South Kindy) was officially opened in October, 1971. The Kindergarten came about as a result of the combined efforts of an interested group of parents who volunteered their time to create this beautiful centre.
Our land was donated by the Rockhampton Council. Renovations and improvements have been funded through grants prepared and carried out by parents over the years. Recently the floors, office, shed areas have been refurbished and extended – all thanks to previous families.
Rocky South Kindy has provided a very special environment for where children have truly grown as individuals and been prepared for the next important steps in their lives.
50 years on, we remain a not-for-profit, community based kindergarten!
What is Kindergarten?
Kindergarten, also known as preschool or pre-prep, is a structured, play-based program led by a university qualified teacher for children in the year before they attend school.
The program which runs for at least 15 hours per week, 40 weeks per calendar year, focuses on helping children to develop a wide range of essential skills and prepares them for their transition to school.
Kindergarten is classified as “registered care”, parents who are eligible may be able to claim the Child Care Benefit (CCB) for Registered Care. For more information contact the Commonwealth Government’s Family Assistance Office on 13 61 50 or visit their website here.
The Importance of Play
Children learn best through play-based learning. At Rockhampton South Kindergarten your child will be provided with quality education and care which is guided by C&K’s curriculum framework, Building Waterfalls. Our educational program will honour every child’s right to play, build on their existing learning from home, and provide foundations to be a successful lifelong learner. Our kindergarten is a place where your child will belong, engage, and contribute to a community of learners.
Your child will experience many opportunities to explore, enquire, problem solve, develop friendships, imagine, use their creativity and extend their capabilities in all curriculum areas including language, literacy and numeracy.
We will share in your child’s investigations, passions and discoveries and actively engage, support and extend their thinking through play. Through building upon children’s strengths and interests, fostering their social and emotional growth and provoking their curiosity we will build on their understandings of the world, literacy, numeracy and other areas of development.
Natural Environments and being Sustainable at Rocky South Kindy
We feel it is important for children to be able to be a part of their environment and learn how to care and protect it. We learn and play in our natural environment and use natural materials as much as we can, repurposing materials as much as we can and ensuring that we not only recycle but we understand why.
Another way to reduce our waste is by having package/wrap free lunches. By adopting a ‘nude food’ rule we can limit the amount of waste produced at meal times, while increasing children’s independence in meeting their own needs. Scrap bins are used and either added to compost, worm farm or family chooks.
Washing up water is provided for children to wash up usable items to be added to the collage box, and our taps in the bathrooms are push taps that turn off automatically to save water wastage.
Paper is conserved by sending emails for families rather than printing out hard copy notes.
ELLA – Early Language Learning Australia
ELLA is a fun and easy digital language program for Kindergarten children. ELLA introduces children to learning a new language via interactive tablet apps. Rockhampton South Kindergarten has been part of the program since 2015. Our focus language is Japanese.