Gowrie NSW Shirley Road Preschool Crows Nest

Shirley Road Preschool is Gowrie NSW first preschool service, and is a quality, not-for-profit preschool located in Crows Nest Uniting Church on Shirley Road.

Shirley Road Preschool has a long standing history within the Crows Nest community, opening on the 1st February, 1972. Today, over 40 years later and under the Gowrie NSW umbrella, Shirley Road Preschool is flourishing, with a reputation for excellence. We cater for over 45 families, their children aged 3 - 5 years. We believe that every child brings with them unique strengths, capabilities, culture, interests, knowledge, ideas and experiences.

All our programs at Shirley Road Preschool are based on children’s strengths, knowledge, interests, concepts, and cultural backgrounds. The National Quality Framework stipulates that learning occurs best through play-based experiences.

Your child will enjoy;

• Interesting and engaging experiences providing opportunities for inquiry, exploration, discovery and problem-solving
• Active engagement with people, objects and representations
• Experiences and provocations based on children’s emerging concepts and thinking
• Rich play experiences by sourcing materials and creating environments which engage children’s sense of curiosity, wonder and investigation
• Opportunities for the development of a wide range of skill areas: social, emotional, cognitive, creative and physical
• Regular excursions to libraries, cafes and nature reserves

Extensive early childhood research shows that for children under the age of five years, play provides the best vehicle for learning. Children are more likely to persist at something in which they are interested in and play-based learning provides a great context for acknowledging children’s interests.

We also engage in learning beyond the classroom. All children participate in frequent local excursions and begin to see themselves as active and contributory community members