a great place to grow
boutique early learning tailored to each child
get to know us
we're parents too!
Meet Greg our CEO
Hi. I’m Greg. I look after the business aspects for Sagewood, ensuring our staff have the support they need so that they can remain focused on the children and families in the centres. I am qualified as a Chartered Accountant with 19 years’ experience across various industries, the last nine of which have been in the education sector. Most of my work is done from our Head Office, but I often visit the centres to check in with the staff.
My wife Dayle and I enjoy spending time at the beach with our two daughters, when we are not cheering them on at their sports, swimming and music lessons. In between I also keep busy playing soccer with the masters team at UWA Nedlands.
the perfect holistic approach
a unique blend of learning styles
A child who feels secure in a loving and nurturing environment will flourish. At Sagewood, we take this to the next level by providing an Early Learning Framework that blends the Montessori, Reggio Emelia, and Waldorf (also known as Steiner) approaches.
No two children are the same, so learning experiences shouldn’t be the same either. Through this blended boutique approach, we can tailor learning to each child based on their strengths, likes, dislikes, communication style, and overall learning preferences.
engaging environments
Our environments are designed to encourage children to question, explore, and investigate in order to increase creative thinking skills and promote independence. Environments include indoor and outdoor play, creative arts, construction, and dramatic play. We also engage in practical life expereinces, such as cooking and gardening.Language, literacy, culture, and maths to provide fundamental skills.
Collaborating with local communities is important to us, we hold incursions and excursions to expand the possibilities for learning and growth.
learning at sagewood
Following the national Early Years Learning Framework, our educational program is informed and inspired by three well-regarded pedagogies — Montessori, Reggio, and Waldorf. Together, they ensure children make a connection to all that is around them and understand the relationship to people and objects.
Social, emotional, and physical development of fine and gross motor skills are inherent to all experiences in our environment and program. From eight-weeks-old to the time children go to school, children are supported in their development though five learning outcomes.
- Learning Outcome 1: Children have a strong sense of identity.
- Learning Outcome 2: Children are connected with and contribute to their world.
- Learning Outcome 3: Children have a strong sense of wellbeing.
- Learning Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners.
- Learning Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators.
Montessori supports children’s development in everyday life through concepts explored at the child’s pace. The method is based on self-directed activity, hands-on learning, and collaborative play. Children are encouraged to make creative choices in their learning, while educators offer age-appropriate activities to guide the process.
Under this technique, children usually work in small groups, individually, or in a mixed-age setting. The materials available and offered to children are uniquely designed to allow exploration to a specific concept or skill. Montessori practise and theory inspires parts of our program.
Reggio Emilia
The Reggio Emilia philosophy is a way of observing what children know, are curious about, and what challenges them, and then using these insights to shape their learning. This well-known theory supports a project based, child-directed style of learning where children can express ideas.
Using each child’s interest as a guide, educators encourage children to explore particular themes or topics. The Reggio method is underpinned by the belief that children form their personality during early development and are endowed with "a hundred languages" (painting, sculpting, drama, and so on). The aim of the Reggio approach at Sagewood is to teach how to use these symbolic languages.
Waldorf
Waldorf’s is based around the awareness that young children learn through imitation, the experience of diverse sensory impressions, and movement. Their natural inclination is to actively explore their physical and social environment. The child’s surroundings offer limits, structure, and protection, as well as the possibility to take risks and meet challenges.
Physical activity is critical during the early years of life for a child’s health and development, providing many benefits including a healthy body weight, improved bone health and cardiovascular fitness, and enhanced cognitive, emotional and psychosocial development.
We know you’re the expert on your child’s needs. At Sagewood, we want to partner with you to ensure that you and your child’s needs are met — Storypark is an online community platform we use to achieve this.
Through Storypark, we can ensure that when there isn’t time for a chat (for example, if you’re rushing off to work or school drop-offs), you’re still a part of your child’s journey at the centre. And, it allows us to stay connected — our educators can send you real-time updates, photos and videos throughout the day.
Play-based early learning encourages the development of five core skills — imagination, language, social, emotional, and math.
Imagination: to inspire increased engagement, independent learning, creativity, hands-on learning, vocabulary enrichment, and expanded perspectives.
Language Development and Vocabulary: learned through increased self-awareness, communication skills, shared experience, social engagement, and bilingual opportunities.
Social: etiquette, independent problem-solving, empathy development, less exposure to negative aspects of technology, emotional intelligence, conflict resolution skills, and the foundational skills for academics.
Emotional development: self-soothing mechanisms, roleplaying, emotional awareness and outlets, expression, personal empowerment, emotional preparedness and flexibility, and balance.
Math and Spatial Understanding: spatial awareness, foundational vocabulary for math, real-world applications, the perception that math is fun, developmentally appropriate education, and foundational concepts.
It’s easy to think that “school readiness” means being able to read, write, and do basic math, but this isn’t the case! School readiness’ is a measure of the knowledge, skills and behaviours that enable children to participate and succeed in school. Specifically, it’s about the development of the whole child — their social and emotional skills, physical skills, communication skills and cognitive skills.
Children cannot thrive at school if they haven’t developed the skills to manage things like getting along with other children, following instructions, and communicating their needs. At Sagewood, our program sets children up for schooling success.
School Readiness Booklet
acknowledgement of country
