Playing a Part in Kindergartens in Stonnington

Kindergartens play a vital role in shaping young minds and nurturing early development. I remember fondly my one year in Kindergarten. It was held in an enormous Church Hall in Malvern. The teachers’ names, their kindness, the wonderful outdoor playground and playing an angel in the Christmas Play are as vivid as ever, many decades later!  Stonnington Community Uniting Church, understanding their importance, has connections with two Kindergartens in East Malvern.

Connection with Local Kindergartens

Stonnington Community Uniting Church is the custodian of properties in Manning Road and  Serrell Street , East Malvern. Facing a choice between selling for development or retaining the properties, the church decided to retain. These properties are used by two Kindergartens, Ewing Kindergarten and Glen Education Serrell Street Kindergarten and the Church quietly remains committed to its community.

Ewing Kindergarten

Since 1946, Ewing Kindergarten, located on Manning Road in East Malvern has been nourishing the minds of pre-schoolers.  As a community-run, not-for-profit centre, it has remained dedicated to providing an holistic, child-centred approach to education.

At the heart of their educational philosophy is a commitment to fostering children’s growth through hands-on experiences. Programs emphasize nature play, helping children connect with the environment around them. Sustainability practices are deeply integrated into daily learning, encouraging young minds to care for creation. Importantly, they also incorporate First Nations knowledge, enriching the children’s understanding of the land and its cultural significance.

Each child is seen as an individual with unique strengths and needs. The curriculum is designed to meet these, providing tailored experiences that nurture curiosity, creativity, and confidence. Whether through art, outdoor exploration, or social play, every aspect of learning is carefully crafted to promote holistic growth.

Furthermore, the kindergarten is built on strong community ties, with the support of a dedicated parent-led Committee of Management. This involvement ensures that the kindergarten remains responsive to the needs of both children and families, fostering a welcoming, inclusive environment where everyone feels valued. With this community backing, the kindergarten continues its legacy of creating meaningful, impactful learning experiences for every child.

If you would like to learn more about enrolment, and programs or book a tour click here Ewing Kindergarten

Glen Education Serrell Street Kindergarten

Glen Education stands as the leader in providing innovative, professional, and inclusive early years education, committed to delivering excellence in learning. With over a decade of experience in managing high-quality kindergartens, we take pride in our distributed leadership model, comprising teachers and educators from diverse services.  Glen Education is a funded, not-for-profit Early Years Management (EYM) organisation. We manage twenty-one kindergartens in Glen Eira, Monash, Kingston, Bayside and Stonnington.

Beautiful spaces to inspire learning: Our flexible environments are purposefully arranged to capture children’s interests, ideas and cater to individual needs. Our commitment to natural resources is evident in creating open-ended play spaces for children to imagine, create, and discover. Indoor/outdoor play is available to children throughout the day, so children can learn where they feel most inspired.  Glen Education kindergartens implement a play-based emergent curriculum that is built on current research from the National Early Years Learning Framework (NEYLF 2022). The NEYLF states “Play-based learning capitalises on children’s natural inclination to be curious, explore, and learn. Children actively construct their own understandings that contribute to their own learning. They exercise their agency, intentionality, capacity to initiate and lead learning, and their right to participate in decisions that affect them, including about their learning.” (p.8)

The curriculum provides rich learning experiences developed through a strength/interest-based approach. There is a balance between adult led intentional teaching opportunities and child driven projects.  We are committed to supporting children in ways that help connect them to the natural world in order to build and promote awareness of environmental and sustainable practices.

Glen Education Serrell Street Kindergarten is nestled in a tranquil corner of Malvern East and is purpose-built to provide an ideal environment for early childhood education.  Our programs are thoughtfully designed to nurture every aspect of a child’s development, and our approach encompasses both indoor and outdoor activities that are thoughtfully planned to enable each child to learn, develop and thrive.  Our program embeds play as a foundation and fundamental building block for learning. Children who attend a Glen Education kindergarten are engaged in a play-based curriculum which emerges from the curiosities of children, ensuring they are engaged and inspired by activities that ignite their interests.

If you would like to learn more about enrolment, do a virtual tour online tour or book an in-person tour, click here  Glen Serrell Street Kindergarten

Nurturing children in the kindergarten setting is vital for children’s development and the health of the community. These two Kindergartens in Malvern East and the Stonnington Community Uniting Church are playing their part.