Parent Info
EarlyCare provides quality child care and early learning options for you and your family in a safe, homely and nurturing environment. We are here to assist and listen to your special needs and requirements.
Staff at all EarlyCare centres, work as a team, sharing responsibilities and accountability's. Each centre has a number of staff in various roles, including Centre Manager/Director, Educators, Educator Assistants, and support staff which may include a Chef and Administrator. It may seem a little daunting at first to meet all the members of the team however to assist in this process we have a photo gallery of our team and their specific qualifications displayed in the foyer area of each centre. Each staff member also wears a uniform and name badge for ease of identification. We encourage parents and children to form relationships with the whole team. We find that this creates an extended ‘family’ environment allowing the children to be confident and comfortable with the whole team which in turn improves the quality of care and early learning outcomes that we achieve.
EarlyCare is fully committed to providing high quality child care and early learning and supports the employment of qualified Early Childhood professionals and their continual professional development. Our staff are highly qualified professionals, many exceeding the minimum requirements required to hold their relevant positions within the centre. We take pride in the quality of our people. We support, encourage and offer additional study/training as required as part of our consistent improvement and succession programme. We value the expertise that our staff have obtained and recognise their value to the organisation and your child’s future. EarlyCare is our people. Our staff would be more than happy to discuss their qualifications and experience and the benefits that this brings to your child’s care and early learning outcomes.
EarlyCare is a boutique group of child care early learning centres with direct Owner Management. Being privately owned allows each centre to be tailored to particular parental and community needs. We have an understanding of parental demands, expectations, difficulties and requirements. We encourage and empower our staff to be pro active with service needs and parents always have the comfort of being able to directly contact senior management regarding any specific requirements. Read more – EarlyCare Philosophy
EarlyCare employs an Area Development Manager to maintain consistency, quality and accountability between all of our services. The Area Development Manager has extensive child care qualifications, experience and training background and supports each Centre Manager/Director and staff as required. Click here to meet our Area Development Manager
The Centre Manager/Director manages the day to day activities of each centre. The Centre Manager works flexible hours, thereby allowing them to meet various parents throughout the day and week. Centre Managers/Directors are available to discuss your care and early learning requirements and take pride in giving perspective parents a guided tour of their facilities. If you wish to make an appointment with the Centre Manager/Director please phone, email, or leave a message and they will contact you to arrange a suitable time. Click here to visit our contact page and review our centre managers backgrounds, qualifications and personal thoughts and philosophies.
EarlyCare Learning TM is our specialised curriculum for early learning. The system is based on the early childhood ‘emergent curriculum’ (see below for more details on emergent curriculum) which is recognised nationally as the most appropriate methodology for early childhood learning. We individualise these programmes to meet each child’s development needs while meeting or exceeding government pre school requirements under the direction of qualified pre school teachers. This is conducted in the children’s familiar surroundings while maintaining strict child to staff ratios.
At EarlyCare, we embrace the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (EYLF) which is Australia's first national EYLF for Early Childhood Educators.
The aim of the EYLF is to extend and enrich children's learning. The framework forms the foundation for ensuring that children in all early childhood education and care settings experience quality teaching and learning. The EYLF has a strong emphasis on play-based learning which the educators within EarlyCare strongly support. We strongly believe that play is the children's work and that the children gain so much from play based learning. Click here to learn more.
All EarlyCare centres are accredited by the National Child Care Accreditation Council at the highest level and we embrace the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood and Care (NQF). Follow the links to learn more.
NQF Staffing
NQF Rating
Through the NQF and the EYLF, it is viewed that children are competent learners and here at EarlyCare we provide children with a variety of experiences which challenge the children and which will help them to meet their full potential allowing the children to succeed.
Also, in our Wagaman service, we have been chosen to participate in a trial subsidised by the Government promoting Early Childhood Mental Health called 'KidsMatter - Early Childhood'. Thus our service will be one of the pioneers across Australia in this initiative. This initiative focuses on the well being and good health of children and helps the Educators to support mental health in children between birth and 5 years. Click here for more info.
At EarlyCare, one of our Aims is to provide a smooth transition for parents from home to work to home. Our staff love to speak to parents daily about your child’s care and we also provide a number of communication sheets to keep parents informed of their child’s daily care routine and activities over the course of their fun filled learning day. We encourage parents to discuss their child’s daily activities. This has a number of significant benefits for parent and child and greatly assists in the transition process whilst contributing to their learning experiences.
EarlyCare takes the security and safety of your children very seriously and employs a number of strategy and systems to mitigate and eliminate risks. At the most basic level all management and team members must hold Ochre Cards, ensuring regular police clearance checks. Within the centres we have strict procedures for any visitors/trades persons that may attend the centre during operating hours. We additionally have strict procedures for releasing children from our care. We regularly conduct fire drills, fire awareness, and stranger education programmes throughout each centre. Each team member must hold a valid First Aid Certificate and additionally we have dedicated team members responsible for each centres Fist Aid requirements. For more information please contact the Centre Manager/Director.
Facilities
EarlyCare recognises the benefit of supplying the best possible facilities at EarlyCare centres. We undertake regular audits and update equipment and facilities on a rotational needs basis. This process identifies needs priorities which are taken into account for future planning purposes. While our aim is to incorporate the most up to date care, learning and management systems and facilities, we recognise that child care and early education is more than just the facilities. While these are important, it is the relationship between children, families and the centre staff that creates the environment for outstanding care and learning.
Charity & Community Support
EarlyCare encourages our staff to be involved in community activities and charities. The company regularly supports such activities as the annual ‘Special Children’s Christmas Party'. Click here for more info. 2011 sponsorship.We also encourage support of The Smith Family ‘Learning for Life’ programme which assists underprivileged families with the education requirements of their children. At EarlyCare we recognise that education forms the foundation of our growth and quality of life and are proud to support the community through this program. We encourage our team to be responsible community members. Click here for more info.
We also promote and encourage awareness of ‘ICE’, a community based programme to assist family and individuals ‘In Case of Emergency’. The programme involves raising community awareness of a simple procedure of loading your mobile phone contacts list with your next of kin contact number under ICE. This allows emergency workers to contact your next of kin, if required, following accidents and the like and may allow them to retrieve valuable information e.g. medical conditions etc, including children in their care.
Emergent Curriculum
What is emergent curriculum?Emergent curriculum describes the kind of curriculum that develops when exploring what is "socially relevant, intellectually engaging, and personally meaningful to children" the basic idea is that organic, whole learning evolves from the interaction of the classroom participants, both children and adults. "As caring adults, we make choices for children that reflect our values; at the same time we need to keep our plans open-ended and responsive to children" (Jones and Nimmo, 1994, p3).
In emergent curriculum, both adults and children have initiative and make decisions. This power to impact curriculum decisions and directions means that sometimes curriculum is also negotiated, between what interests children and what adults know is necessary for children's education and development. Ideas for curriculum emerge from responding to the interests, questions, and concerns generated within a particular environment, by a particular group of people, at a particular time (Cassady, 1993).
Emergent curriculum is never built on children's interests alone, teachers and parents also have interests worth bringing into the curriculum. The values and concerns of all the adults involved help the classroom culture evolve. The curriculum is called emergent because it evolves, diverging along new paths as choices and connections are made, and it is always open to new possibilities that were not thought of during the initial planning process (Jonmes and Reynolds, 1992).
Emergent curriculum arises naturally from adult-child interactions and situations that allow for "teachable moments." It connects learning with experience and prior learning. It includes all interests of children and responds to their interests rather than focusing on a narrow, individual, or calendar driven topic. It is process rather than product driven. The curriculum is typically implemented after an idea emerges from the group of children.