Early Learning Services - Beresfield

DETAILS:

Fees:

Please call the centre for details on daily and weekly rates.

Food provided: Provides afternoon tea and late snack.

Nappies provided: Yes

Payment methods: Ezi Debt, BPAY, EFTPOS or Cheque

Note:
Child Care Benefits (CCB), which is provided by the Australian Government through Centrelink can be claimed at this centre. 

About our centre director, Antoniette Yager:

Where did you come from?
As soon as I left school I enrolled in Bachelor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Newcastle. I worked for childcare centres in Melbourne and Newcastle and became very interested in the management the childcare centres. I worked as 2IC at ABC Gateshead to gain more understanding of management duties in childcare, and then became director of ABC Beresfield, which then became MAELS Beresfield. I have been director at Beresfield for nearly three years now

What gets you out of bed in the morning?
Knowing that we make making a difference to children's lives and learning

What do you feel is unique about your centre?
We have fairies that live with the frogs and lizards at the bottom of our vege garden

What is your own early years learning philosophy?
I believe that all children have the right to access high quality childcare and education in their critical learning period of life. I believe that children learn the most effectively through play in a safe, fun, and natural environment with dedicated and qualified staff members facilitating opportunities for discovery, growth and development. I believe that families should feel involved and welcome at the centre so that strong partnerships can be formed with families and to help celebrate each child's individuality.

What would you like to see your centre achieve in the next 5 years?
I know that this centre will uphold our High Quality standard of care and education and as we strive to continually improve we look forward to becoming a cornerstone of our local community. I would like to see the centre become an all-inclusive facility for families to access social, health and employment professionals in the one place.

Beresfield centre philosophy:

The critical learning period in an individual's life happens between the ages of 0-5years when important pathways are being built to form the foundations for learning and life. This is why children's development happens so quickly at this early stage in life and why high quality early childhood education plays such a valuable role in fostering this development.

The most valuable way a child learns is through play, it helps children weave together their growing understanding of life as they experience it. Play is every child's right, as recognised in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).

We take a play-based approach to teaching, and believe that children play and learn the most effectively in environments that are safe, interesting, appropriate, challenging and fun, with natural and open-ended resources that reflect the multicultural background of families at our centre and our wider community. 

We also believe that children's play needs blocks of unhurried time to allow children to become fully engaged in their play. Our programming is guided by our centre philosophy as well as our curriculum, which borrows from the practices Reggio Emilia.

We recognise the importance of qualified staff that have thorough understandings of our state regulations and high quality practices and we aim to foster continual professional development for every staff member. Staff are encouraged to be reflective thinkers and evaluate their practice regularly.

We believe that partnerships with families play a vital part in the operation of our centre. Families have a wealth of knowledge to offer about their children's development and interests and we value their cultural backgrounds and the community that they come from. We believe that families should feel welcome at the centre at any time and encourage family members to visit us to share their talents, skills and cultural heritage.

This enables us to explore the diversity of cultures in our community and advocate for equality. We recognise that children arrive at the centre with their own strengths and skills that they have learnt from their family, friends and community that has helped form their unique personalities.

We celebrate each child's individuality, and plan a wide range of play-based learning experiences, referencing the National Early Years Learning Framework, to extend children's development and understandings across different content areas, using observation and interactions, as well as collaborations with families.

We believe that every child should be given equal chance to access early childhood education so they are able to grow and develop to their full potential in an encouraging and inclusive learning environment; free from bias, discrimination or stereotypes based on their abilities, culture, religion or gender and strive to ensure our resources and practices support this.