Katoomba Leura Preschool

Welcome to Katoomba Leura Preschool, located at 36 Lett Street in Katoomba, Australia. Our institution is proud to offer high quality, not-for-profit, community-based early childhood education for children aged 3-5 years. We are dedicated to drawing inspiration from our beautiful natural environment, fostering a love for lifelong learning in our students. With our Exceeding the National Quality Standard rating by ACECQA, we strive for excellence in all aspects of our preschool.

At Katoomba Leura Preschool, we embrace the educational project of Reggio Emilia in Italy, as well as the Principles, Practices, and Outcome elements of the Australian Early Years Learning Framework. We also incorporate Inquiry and Nature pedagogies into our teaching approach. Our philosophy revolves around surrounding children with love, support, and trust, recognizing their competence, capability, and curiosity about the world around them. We provide them with the pathways to explore this innate curiosity.

We firmly believe in honoring children's right to play, viewing it as both a process and context for learning. We understand the importance of allowing them to enjoy their childhood within an unhurried environment, filled with meaningful and authentic experiences. Our unique play spaces are designed to foster a lifelong appreciation of nature and develop environmental awareness. We encourage exploration, risk-taking, discovery, and connection within these spaces.

At Katoomba Leura Preschool, we also acknowledge and celebrate Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. We strive to embed their cultural richness, traditions, and language into our teaching and learning practices. We respectfully acknowledge the traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and play – the Gundungarra and Darug people – and seek to build our knowledge of and connection with them.

As a community-based preschool, we are a non-profit organization run by a volunteer Management Committee, consisting of parents/carers of children attending the center, and sometimes interested community members. We encourage parents/carers to be involved either on the Committee or by attending General Meetings. These meetings are held monthly, and each family is required to become a Member of the Association.

Our Management Committee is responsible for the overall performance of the Preschool. They determine the Preschool's aims and objectives, set strategic directions with the Director/Nominated Supervisor, ensure compliance with legal and industrial obligations, monitor and evaluate performance, and ensure ongoing financial viability.

At Katoomba Leura Preschool, we embrace the atelier concept introduced by Loris Malaguzzi in Reggio Emilia preschools. Our spacious rooms, numerous small spaces, and beautiful gardens allow us to provide a variety of engaging opportunities for children. From music and movement spaces to art and creative areas, technology and investigation realms, we encourage creative thinking experiences.

Our ateliers are spaces where children's experiences, connections, communications, and creativity can be made visible. We believe in education for sustainability and actively engage in sustainable practices every day. We promote a sense of responsibility, respect, empowerment, inquiry, and social change to make a positive difference. We also believe that a sense of wonder, belonging, and love for the natural environment is critical for young children to develop lifelong respectful attitudes towards protecting our environment and creating a sustainable world.

At Katoomba Leura Preschool, we aim to surround children with beauty and a natural environment that includes plants, trees, edible gardens, sand, rocks, mud, water, and other elements from nature. We support open-ended interactions, spontaneity, risk-taking, exploration, discovery, and a strong connection with nature.

In terms of fees, as per the NSW government directive, all families have access to two free days of preschool each week. We strive to make our high-quality education accessible to all families in our community.

We invite you to explore our website and learn more about Katoomba Leura Preschool. If you have any questions or would like to know more about our Management Committee, please do not hesitate to reach out. We look forward to welcoming you and your child to our preschool community.