The Team / Parent Information
EarlyCare provides quality care options for you and your family in a homely 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 accountabilities. Each centre has a number of staff in various roles, including Centre Manager/Director, Teachers/Group Leaders, Group Assistants, and support staff which may include a Cook and/or an 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 outcomes that we aim to achieve.
EarlyCare has a commitment to a high quality of service and supports the employment of qualified Early Childhood professionals. You will notice that the vast majority of 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 with you.
EarlyCare is a boutique group of childcare centres with direct Owner Management. As a parent you will from time to time meet the Owners as they work in the centres and train with the staff. The owners have a young family and have a broad understanding of parental demands, expectations, difficulties and requirements. While we empower our staff to deal with any service ‘issues’ that may arise, parents always have the comfort of being able to directly contact or meet the owners.
EarlyCare employs an Area Development Manager to maintain consistency and accountability between all of its services. The Area Development Manager has extensive childcare qualifications, experience and training background and supports each Centre Manager/Director as required.
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 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.
EarlyCare Learning™ is our specialised curriculum for early learning. The system is based on the early childhood ‘emergent curriculum’ which is recognised nationally as the most appropriate methodology for early childhood learning. Each Centre also contains an EarlyCare ‘IT fun Lab’TM which is used to bring electronic learning, education and skills into your child’s life. We idividualise 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, 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 day and we also provide a number of communication sheets to keep parents informed of their child’s daily routine and activities over the course of their fun filled 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.
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 have regular police clearance checks. Within the centres we have strict procedures for any visitors/tradespersons that may attend the centre during operating hours. We additionally have strict procedures for releasing children from our care. Throughout 2007 we will be progressively installing electronic sign in and sign out systems to assist with overseeing and monitoring these procedures. 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 your 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 successful 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’ and various children’s community education magazines. We also support The Smith Family ‘Learning for Life’ programmed which assists underprivileged families with the education requirements for their school age children. We believe and encourage our team to be responsible community members.
We will also be conducting parent education and information evenings on various child related issues throughout the year.
During 2007 we will be promoting ‘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.
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.