Playgroup and Preschool

Playgroup

The Silkwood School Playgroup provides an opportunity for young children, from 15 months to 5 years of age, and parents to discover early childhood education in a nurturing environment that echoes the atmosphere of a Silkwood Prep classroom.

During the Playgroup Program children and parents engage in:

• Home-like activities or simple crafts while children help or play nearby;
• Creative play with natural materials and objects that spark curiosity;
• Circle and story time that reflect the world of nature and seasonal changes;
• A rich learning experience through music and rhymes;
• Stories that nourish the imagination and provide rich material for creative play.

Silkwood offers a Preschool Playgroup especially designed for children, from four to five years of age. Parents attend this program with their child.  We are proud of our Playgroup Program and the critical part it plays in supporting Silkwood families with young children. We encourage all parents to attend this group as a preparation for their children beginning Prep.

Pre-School

We are currently unable to offer a traditional preschool program on site due to council restrictions. We value preschool as an important part of the Silkwood journey and have an initiative to develop a Silkwood Pre-School Centre as part of our future strategic plans. We aim to achieve this by 2025.

The Groups

There are three available age groups: 

• 15 months – 3 years (2 hours session);
• 3-4 years (2 hour sessions);
• Pre-Prep groups (4-5 years) which run for 2.5 hours.

We ask that parents arrive 5 minutes early to settle their children, greet friends and prepare for the group. Younger siblings are welcome to attend with the parents. Children remain in the care and supervision of their parents for the duration of the group. School-age children are not permitted to attend Playgroup.

Pre-prep Playgroup

The Silkwood Pre-prep program provides an opportunity for parents to be supported in helping our future Silkwood students have the best possible start to school.

Our goals for the Pre-Prep program are:

• To offer future Silkwood students access to high quality, developmentally supportive play and learning program, preparing them for a successful transition to Prep.
• To maintain collaborative relationships with parents during the early years of learning.

To continually strive to offer the best possible education for children, we include a general play-based rhythm of playgroup, and additional activities supporting all areas of development will feature during the pre-prep session. 

The following areas of development will be highlighted.......

Social and Emotional Development

Social and emotional competency and capacity are at the core of success for a smooth transition to starting school. The intrinsic benefits include the confidence and efficacy to approach new social situations and tackle various complex tasks. Turn-taking, sharing and playing cooperatively are fundamental skills required to support a child's capacity to learn. Opportunities for supporting social and emotional development will be offered during each session. Parental supervision and support are crucial during this time. Children are learning critical skills and may sometimes experience difficulty, requiring redirection.

Physical Development

Body awareness helps us understand where our bodies are in space. Understanding the information received from the sensory systems allows the children to increase their body awareness and how it moves through the environment. As a result, children supported in developing strong body awareness have less difficulty learning new tasks at school.

The children will have opportunities to increase motor development and body awareness by participating in the Perceptual Motor program. A range of activities will be offered each week. These activities will require adult supervision. The Perceptual Motor program will focus on locomotor movements, spatial orientation, hand-eye coordination, directionality and bilateral coordination.

The usual program favourites such as singing, finger plays, storytelling, craft and fine motor activities such as drawing and cutting will continue to feature in the program.

Circle Time

Circle time provides opportunities for parents to support their child's developing speech and language skills and their growing ability to sit, listen and engage in the learning content. 

Parent Support

Throughout the year, articles of interest may be offered to provide support or insight into all areas of development and well-being.

Playgroup Enrolment Process

Please read this information carefully to decide if our playgroups are right for you. 

Our groups are more structured than regular playgroups, which does not suit all families. If you have read the above information and would like to register for Playgroup, you must first submit an Application for Enrolment form for Prep at Silkwood and pay the non-refundable $100 application fee. It is important to note that this application begins our enrolment process and does not guarantee placement at Silkwood.

Once you have submitted an Enrolment Application, you can submit a Playgroup application form. This form will place you on our Playgroup waiting list until a position in a suitable group becomes available. There is no additional fee to be on the Playgroup waiting list. 

We endeavour to update Playgroup classes at the completion of each term and to contact all families on the waiting list with either a space availability or notification of continued time on the waiting list. You are responsible for advising the School regarding any changes to your contact details. Your place on the waiting list may be withdrawn if we cannot contact you or if you do not respond to our correspondence.

Haven't you enrolled at Silkwood yet?

If you haven't yet enrolled your child into Silkwood School, please follow the process set out on the 'Enrol' section of our website. Click the button below to be redirected to the Enrol page.

Already enrolled at Silkwood?

If you have already submitted a Silkwood School Application Enrolment Form and would like to enrol your child into one of our Playgroup Sessions, please request a Playgroup Application Form by clicking the button below:

Playgroup Fees

To accept an offer of placement, full payment for the term must be made up front at the start of the term.

Playgroup fees are for the whole term’s enrolment, they are not negotiable or refundable, and must be paid in full.