Kinma School

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Kinma is a unique child-centered learning environment that offers innovative programs for children in their primary and preschool years. It is a place where children genuinely love to learn and where they acquire values and skills that will benefit them for the rest of their lives. Established in 1972, Kinma (an aboriginal word meaning 'Awake') is based on progressive education philosophy with democratic principles.

Non-denominational, co-educational and non-profit, Kinma Primary and Preschool has led innovative holistic child-centered teaching and learning for over 40 years. The founding families created a supportive and inspiring environment where teachers, parents, and children share the educational program's decisions.

Kinma's educational program is accredited by the NSW Board of Studies and has been awarded the highest possible registration level. Kinma delivers and meets all of the NSW Board of Studies requirements to a very high standard. We do not do it in a 'tick-the-box" way. Kinma Preschool was given an NQS ranking of 'Exceeding National Quality Standards' by the DEC in November 2013.

Children possess an innate desire to learn. From an early age, children pose questions, problem-solve, play, and interact with their environment. Teachers at Kinma provide learning situations that encourage, stimulate, and support the development of each child's inherent array of intelligence. Central to this individualized approach is the acknowledgment that humans possess multiple intelligences. As Howard Gardner outlines

• Linguistic intelligence involves sensitivity to spoken and written language, learning languages, and the capacity to use language to accomplish specific goals. This intelligence includes the ability to use language to express oneself rhetorically or poetically effectively and language as a means to remember information. Writers, poets, lawyers, and speakers are among those that Howard Gardner sees as having high linguistic intelligence.
• Logical-mathematical intelligence consists of analyzing problems logically, carrying out mathematical operations, and investigating issues scientifically. In Howard Gardner's words, it entails detecting patterns, reasoning deductively, and thinking logically. This intelligence is most often associated with scientific and mathematical thinking.
• Musical intelligence involves skill in the performance, composition, and appreciation of musical patterns. It encompasses the capacity to recognize and compose musical pitches, tones, and rhythms. According to Howard Gardner, musical intelligence runs in an almost structural parallel to linguistic intelligence.
• Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence entails the potential of using one's whole body or parts of the body to solve problems. It is the ability to use mental abilities to coordinate bodily movements. Howard Gardner sees mental and physical activity as related.
• Spatial intelligence involves the potential to recognize and use the patterns of vast space and more confined areas.
• Interpersonal intelligence is concerned with the capacity to understand other people's intentions, motivations, and desires. It allows people to work effectively with others. Educators, salespeople, religious and political leaders, and counselors all need a well-developed interpersonal intelligence.
• Intrapersonal intelligence entails the capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one's feelings, fears, and motivations. In Howard Gardner's view, it involves having a useful working model of ourselves and using such information to regulate our lives.
• Naturalist intelligence enables human beings to recognize, categorize, and draw upon certain features of the environment. It 'combines a description of the core ability with a characterization of the role that many cultures value' (ibid.: 48).

Teachers at Kinma carefully take all these "intelligence into account while programming. They allow students to utilize their natural intelligence and work with supporting new areas of learning modalities. For example, if a child is healthy in musical intelligence, the knowledge of this strength can be used by the teachers to enhance learning in other areas. Subsequently, the child benefits by learning in the style that is most suitable to him/her.

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