Barfa Bear Child Care Centre has a real warm home-like setting. From outside the building you would not think it was a child care centre, and that’s how we like it! Barfa Bear is licensed for 36 children per day, between the ages of 2yrs-5yrs. We are open 7.30am - 6.00pm approx. 50 weeks per year, closing at no charge to families over the Christmas/New Years period.
Barfa Bear is an air-conditioned building with security intercom for parental access.
There are 2 playrooms with a minimum of 3 Bear Team Educators for each playroom, being 2 qualified Educators (including min 1 Early Childhood Teacher ECT), plus one playroom assistant who will hold either a Children Services Cert III or be studying a Children Services Cert III Traineeship. We are always working well over staff regulatory ratios, which ensures the best educational outcome for your child.
Each Playroom has a playroom leader who will supervise the operations of the playroom environment and Bear Team, ensuring that the Playroom Daily Routine, and Policies & Procedures are adhered to, in addition to preparing their Weekly Interest-Based Program and Pre-School Readiness Program.
Each Educator has their own group of focus children, so they can program, reflect and prepare opportunities based on your child’s interests and developmental needs, and assist in the implementation of the Pre-School Readiness Program.
For more information visit www.bearchildcare.com.au
Giggles Early Learning Centre is a privately owned and operated service by award winning operator Anastasia Papadopoulos since 2008. Our purpose built service operates between the hours of 7am and 6pm for 52 weeks of the year (closed only on Public Holidays). We cater for children between the ages of 6 weeks – 5 years. The service is licensed for 39 children and is accredited against the National Quality Framework.
Giggles ELC a home away from home and our staff are very much considered to be a part of your extended family! We provide all food for the children which is prepared by a qualified chef. Our food and menus are maintained in accordance with nutritional guidelines and family input. We ask families to only provide a yoghurt for their child and a piece of fruit, which is shared as a fruit platter with the children, for morning or afternoon tea. We provide and cater for dietary requirements and the needs of your child. A child’s wellbeing is our number one priority.
From an educational perspective, Giggles ELC follows that National Framework for educating young children in their early years. This is known as the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and a complete Pre-School Readiness Program is in place for children who will be attending primary school. This has been developed over the years in conjunction with local Primary Schools to ensure that each child transitions to “Big School” and is ready for their new journey!
Contact us for more information.
Happy Feet Child Care Our service operates between the hours of 7am and 6pm for 52 weeks of the year (closed only on Public Holidays). We cater for children between the ages of 20 months – 5 years. The service is licensed for 39 children and is accredited against the National Quality Framework.
From an educational perspective, Happy Feet CCC follows that National Framework for educating young children in their early years. This is known as the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and a complete Pre-School Readiness Program is in place for children who will be attending primary school. This has been developed over the years in conjunction with local Primary Schools to ensure that each child transitions to “Big School” and is ready for their new journey! Contact us for more information.
Ladybugs Daycare is a long hour daycare service catering for children aged 0-6 years old.
We believe each child is a unique individual, with individual beliefs, needs and interests that must be respected and encouraged. Contact us for more information.
MindChamps Early Learning Hurstville is an architecturally designed, two-storey learning centre which comes with state-of-the-art facilities.
We are open from 7:30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday and cater for 65 children.
The ground level houses two classrooms: Confidence (6 weeks-2 years) and Creativity (2 years-2.5 years). On the second level, there are two large classrooms: Grateful (2 years-3.5 years) and Life-Long Learners (3 years-5 years). Also located on the second level of the centre is a large natural outdoor playground that connects to the children’s indoor learning environments.
All meals for the children are nutritious and delicious, prepared on site by our expert cook. These include breakfast, morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea.
Our carefully designed curriculum is based on internationally validated research and aligns with the Australian EYLF Framework. Our team of dedicated teachers are passionate about creating enriching experiences for children under their care and to empower them in both creativity and structured thinking.
MindChamps Early Learning @ Hurstville offers every child the opportunity to discover the champion in them! Contact us for more information.
Janine Painter's Occupational Therapy Service Our service provides assessments and therapy to help children develop skills in many areas:
- play skills and milestone development;
- fine motor skills including drawing, scissor skills, hand preference;
- handwriting and pencil grip;
- general gross motor co-ordination skills like balance and ball skills;
- school readiness and pre-academic skills;
- self care skills like tying laces and fastening buttons;
- learning and reading skills, including reversals, memory and missing words when reading; and attention and concentration.
- Registered with private health funds;
- HCWA service provider for Autism Early Intervention and Better Start Early Intervention
- Provides services for clients with NDIS funding who are either self-managing or using a Registered plan management provider.
We work with children from birth to 18years old, with difficulties ranging from minimal handwriting and co-ordination difficulties to specific difficulties associated with autistic spectrum disorders, learning difficulties, attention deficit disorders, developmental delays, neurological conditions and specific syndromes (eg: Down Syndrome). Individual sessions, group programmes for school readiness in Term 3 and 4 (Miranda only), handwriting groups in the school holidays (Miranda only), and child care and preschool screenings are available.
Therapy services available at:
Main Address: Suite 3 /14-16 Central Rd, Miranda Open Days: Monday-Saturday Ph: 9524 2566
Therapy and assessments are also available on Monday and Wednesday at Suite 1, 836 Military Road, Mosman. (within the offices of Mosman Language and Learning Centre) Contact phone number for enquiries and bookings: 0403077838
Banbury Cottage
We are very lucky to have celebrated our 20th Birthday of Banbury Cottage being open. We had a wonderful afternoon Birthday event held at the centre with all their lovely families and their children and with all the Educators. We love to Theme our Birthdays so this year we celebrated CIRCUS Style, setting up our yard in full circus theme. We had mini events set up like photo booth, bean bag throw through some cool lions mouth, ball throw, knock down cans, bobbing ducks, jumping castle, circus tattoo art, some guessing competitions and some yummy treats for sale. And of course dress ups, everyone was dressed up and it looked great. A huge shout out to the Educators who make these events so wonderful, especially our prop organiser Jennifer who goes above and beyond to bring the magic to the centre for our events. We finished off our night with a feast of foods brought by all the parents and shared. We are so lucky to do what we do, we are so lucky to be part of a community of families that treat Banbury Cottage like family.
We will be celebrating Diwali over the next week with the children as we have many families who will be celebrated too. We have made already many wonderful craft activities, explored stories using drama techniques with the children and explored music and fashion as well.
We are currently taking enrolments for 2020, if you are looking for care, please give us a call to organise a tour of our service. 95871331
Rainbow Cottage Child Care Centre is proud of their achievement for being a finalist in the Bayside Business Awards. We are very thankful to all that acknowledge our commitment to providing a fun loving environment for the children in our community. We worked on a new space with some feedback from parents, an area for our Quality Improvement Plan to be displayed but in a space that gave parents a chance to actual stop and sit for a moment to read and see what our goals and ideas for improvements are. Working together in Partnership with parents is a big part of why Rainbow Cottage has such great relationships with our families. We love to listen and get feedback and work together to make sure that Rainbow Cottage is always striving for the best. We are currently taking enrolments for 2020 and welcome families to come in for a tour and to pop over to view our new QIP area.
Our Preschoolers are excitedly getting ready for Kindergarten orientation visits and we are very proud of all our little friends. We cant believe in a few months we will be saying our goodbyes as they venture off on a new adventure. The Positive Thinking Skills Clinic is holding their next Preschooler Emotional Intelligence Workshop on the 2/11/19. Please call us on 95299444 for more details.
CASS Gumnut Early Learning Centre - Hurstville At HELC We strive to structure our program to enhance learning and extend our children’s skills and interests.
The past few months have been very busy, we have begun to explore our community a little more using powerwalks around the local area. The aim of our powerwalks is to promote an active lifestyle and incorporate physical activity into our regular routine, we have made the decision to go for regular walks around the area. We will be taking the children on a stroll around the local streets to truly connect them to the local area.
So far these walks have been very successful, with visits to the local library, park, children’s homes and convenience stores all a part of this program.
A sense of connection to the community and to the surrounding businesses in our area is very important to us and we aim to educate the children on this and extend their sense of belonging within the Hurstville area.
If you see us walking in the local area, don’t be shy, say hello, we’re sure to say hi right back to you, our children have always shown friendly nature and happy outlook, as do all our educators.
Position’s available now! Email: HELC@cass.org.au Phone: 02 95851621 Address: 48 Queens Road, Hurstville 2220 https://casschildcare.org.au
Learning Links Prep 4 Preschool supported playgroup will be running at our new sit in Rockdale during Term 4. It is a gentle introduction to supporting and promoting your child’s learning in a small group setting. The group provides a relaxed, safe and engaging environment where play activities are tailored to enhance the development of each child. Our professional and experienced Early Childhood Educators, Occupation Therapists and Speech Pathologists are available to provide information and support to help your child communicate, move and play – in preparation for a smooth transition to preschool. You will also have opportunities to meet other families and for your child to learn alongside other children.
Prep 4 Preschool is suitable for families with a child aged from 2 years with additional needs, or who are facing difficulties regarding their child attending an early learning. Siblings are welcome to attend. Groups will run in Rockdale on Tuesday and Wednesday.
To find out more about Prep 4 Preschool, please contact Melissa on 0433 548 350 or email prep4preschool@learninglinks.org.au. You can place your child’s name on the Prep 4 Preschool waitlist via the Learning Links website: www.learninglinks.org.au/playgroup
Talking Heads Speech Pathology now has;
Sunday morning services available!
Bookings open for; January SCHOOL READINESS INTENSIVE PROGRAMMES
Contact the clinic on 9553 1400 for more information or to make a booking.
Latest podcast topics to tune into on Chatabout Children with Sonia Bestulic
- Bullying! No Way!
- Raising Readers – how to nurture a love of books and reading in children
You can find the episodes on
www.chataboutchildren.com
PARENT INFORMATION
Below is a brief guide to the Assessment and Rating process under which Child Care services are rated
What are the ratings criteria?
Early childhood education and care services (long day care, family day care, preschool/kindergarten, outside school hours care) are assessed and rated against the National Quality Standard (NQS) to:
- promote continuous improvement in the provision of quality education and care
- improve knowledge and access to information about the quality of services to help families make informed decisions about their child’s education and care.
The NQS is part of the National Regulations and includes 7 quality areas that are important to children’s learning and developmental outcomes.
- Educational program and practice
- Children's health and safety
- Physical environment
- Staffing arrangements
- Relationships with children
- Collaborative partnerships with families and communities
- Governance and leadership
Who rates services?
Services are assessed and rated against the NQS by the state or territory regulatory authority (RA) and given a rating for each of the seven quality areas and an overall rating based on these results. The quality ratings are published on the national registers on the ACECQA website and on the Starting Blocks website.
What does it mean if a service is rated Significant Improvement Required?
If a service has been rated as Significant Improvement Required, the regulatory authority has determined that there are identified risks to the safety, health and wellbeing of children. The approved provider is required to take immediate action to rectify these risks, and the RA will monitor the service closely to ensure those improvements are made.
Continuous Improvement
It may take time for new services to meet each element required in the standards, which can result in a Working Towards NQS or Meeting NQS rating. To find out more about how your child’s service is striving to achieve quality, you can ask to see the service’s Quality Improvement Plan (QIP).
A QIP is the document which records the service’s self-assessment of the quality of its practices against the NQS and National Regulations. It also identifies any areas for improvement and contains their statement of philosophy. Educators, children, families and the community should all be involved in the development and maintenance of the service’s QIP.
Why are services with no ratings operating?
Services that have not had an assessment and rating visit hold a rating of “Provisional – Not Yet Assessed”.
Education and care services must undergo many processes and approvals in order to be approved and operate under the National Quality Framework (NQF). This is also a way of ensuring quality and compliance prior to their assessment and rating.
The service will receive a rating when it is assessed and rated by the RA.
If you would like to know when the service will be assessed and rated, please contact the service directly. The RA in your state or territory, responsible for assessment and rating, may also be able to assist you.
You may also like to ask the service for their QIP and their family handbook. This will help you to make a more detailed assessment of the service’s strengths and could also help with identifying the criteria you wish to find in a service.
How often are services assessed and rated?
When regulatory authorities schedule quality rating assessments, the goal is to assess and rate the quality of services, drive continuous improvement and keep information for families and communities accurate and up to date.
To focus resources on services most in need of service improvement, the actions of the RA are responsive and risk-based. Services with a lower quality rating will be re-rated more frequently. Services with higher quality ratings will generally have a longer period of time between assessment and rating visits in recognition of their ability to meet the NQS.
RA’s consider the following factors when managing assessment and rating schedules:
- The previous quality rating of the service, including results against the quality areas, standards and at the element level.
- A change in service attributes that could be reasonably considered to affect the service’s quality – for example, changes in approved provider or service management team.
- Events that occur at the service – for example, serious incidents, complaints or non-compliance with the National Law can indicate a change in quality and a higher scheduling priority.
- The length of time since the last assessment – for example, over time a quality rating can lose its currency and value for families.
Each RA manages its assessment schedule in a responsive manner, making adjustments to the schedule as new information emerges and making best use of their available resources.
It usually takes a regulatory authority 10 weeks to assess and rate a service. The rating report or rating certificate should be made available to families.
How do RAs ensure that services keep delivering quality after receiving their rating?
RAs make unscheduled and scheduled visits to services in addition to assessment and rating visits. These include monitoring, spot check and compliance visits to ensure the service is operating within the national legislation.
Summary of the steps in the Assessment and Rating process
- Self-assessment and quality improvement
Approved provider conducts a self-assessment to determine the quality of current practices against the NQS and linked regulatory requirements.
Approved provider identifies strengths and where improvements can be made which is documented in a Quality Improvement Plan (QIP).
- Notice of visit
Regulatory authority provides written notice to approved provider that the assessment and rating process has commenced. The QIP is submitted to the regulatory authority prior to the visit, along with any additional information requested by the regulatory authority.
- Assessment and rating visit takes place at the service.
- Draft report
Regulatory authority provides the approved provider with a draft assessment and rating report.
- Feedback on draft report
Provider can give feedback on any factual inaccuracies in the report and evidence to support feedback.
- Final report and notice of final ratings is issued to the provider
Feedback considered before final report is finalised and issued.
- Final report
Approved provider may choose to apply for a review of final ratings within the set review period.
- Ratings published on national registers
Once the review period has ended, the final ratings are published on the national registers on the ACECQA website and on the Starting Blocks website.
https://www.startingblocks.gov.au/other-resources/factsheets/assessment-and-rating-process/
