3 & 4 Year Old
Kindergarten
We nurture each child’s curiosity, imagination, discovery and inventiveness. Through painting rainbows, building rocket ships and exploring the bush, children are challenged to wonder, problem solve and form positive connections, with their peers and their educators.
We believe that every child is uniquely created by God and capable of wonderful engagement and contribution to the world. Our high quality, play based early childhood educational program is Christ centred, safe, nurturing and a place where positive relationships are prioritised.
Our program provides a strong foundation for a child’s learning and development offering a wide range of challenging experiences. We celebrate and respect each child’s unique strengths and interests, adapting our flexible program to embrace their individual needs and developmental stages, while recognising their exciting place in God’s wonderful world.
Although formal academics are not part of our program, children engage in teacher led group learning experiences that build on children’s knowledge, offer them new ideas and challenge their thinking. Children are introduced to pre-literacy and pre-numeracy concepts to lay the foundations for beginning school.
MECS Kinder is government funded free Kinder. There are no fees to enrol or attend Kinder.
There is a small annual fee to cover the cost of excursions and incursions.
We teach to the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework and connect Christian perspectives and the MECS Threads to this in a cohesive way.
Partnering with parents is a core value of MECS. In the Kinder we work with parents even before the school year begins to share information and get to know our students.
We welcome parents into our classrooms and value their presence and contributions.
We provide planned and spontaneous opportunities for sharing information about children’s learning and development with an orientation session, information sessions and parent teacher interviews.
Outside the Classroom
Incursions
We provide regular events where experts come to Kinder to engage with the children about an area of learning. This can vary each year and can include dance, music, drama, storytelling, art, science or animals.
Excursions
Children attend carefully chosen and planned excursions that enhance learning and complement the onsite learning opportunities.
Bush Kinder
K4 children regularly attend Bush Kinder sessions on the MECS property. This wonderful program helps children appreciate and connect with nature and play in a less structured and open environment.
PMP – Perceptual Motor Program
This regular program supports children to develop physical skills, co-ordination, strength and spatial awareness to enhance their physical health as well as their ability to concentrate and focus in a classroom.
Library Visits
Children regularly visit the MECS library to borrow books to take home and enjoy a range of stories read to them by the MECS Librarians.
Connections to the MECS community
There are many times throughout the year where various people from the wider MECS community come to Kinder to share with the children. This includes staff with teachers and school leadership reading the Kinder children, Secondary science teachers sharing the excitement of science or art students creating beautiful resources for the children.
Indonesian
K4 children enjoy a weekly Indonesian lesson taught by our Indonesian speaking Kinder teachers. This sets up a wonderful disposition of learning as they head into Primary School where they will continue learning Indonesian.
Teachers, Timetable & Transition to Prep
Teaching Team
Our team is made up of experienced early childhood teachers and educators. We provide consistent staffing so trusting relationships can be built and children can be assured of predictable and consistent staff arrangement. Our 2026 team are introduced in our 2026 Kindergarten Family Information Book.
All casual staff are MECS employees and we do not utilise agency staff.
Timetable
Our Kinder program offers 2 x full-funded days for 3 year olds and 2.5 x full-funded days for 4 year olds. To view our 2026 timetable, please download our 2026 Kindergarten Family Information Book.
Transition to Prep
Our close proximity to the MECS Prep classrooms means that we have a birds eye view of what happens in Prep. This allows for regular discussions about what children can expect as they head to Prep.
We have regular opportunities for the Prep team to visit Kinder so they become familiar to the children. For children who may need additional support to transition into Prep, we ensure there are ample opportunities to develop individual strategies to support a positive transition.
When formal Prep transition begins, Kinder educators attend Prep sessions with the children so they have their familiar and trusted teachers with them as they take their next steps.
Child Safety
MECS is a child safe organisation and MECS Kinder meets and meets all our required regulatory and compliance requirements while putting child’s safety and education first.
All staff complete regular child safe training and all new staff are recruited and inducted using rigorous processes.
All people who volunteer at MECS Kindergarten hold a current Working with Children Check, participate in an induction process and agree to operate according to our Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy.