Our People

Friendly, motivated and enthusiastic are just some of the ways we describe our educators. We take the time to get to know each child and their family. We want you to feel part of a community invested in your child’s education and well-being. Our centre provides a safe environment and a quality learning experience. Many children, families and educators are bilingual and we take pride in embedding culture in our centre.

Meet our Centre Manager

Name: Lucy Gates

Years in childcare: 8 years

Qualifications: Bachelor Education (Early Childhood and Primary)

What makes you passionate about Early Childhood Education? Being able to be a part of the children’s and their family’s life. It is wonderful to see them grow and develop over the years and the relationships you build with their families stay with you well after they leave the centre. I believe children start to learn from birth and that the next 5 years are critical in a child’s development. I believe that as an educator it is in important to have a passion to instill a love of learning in children.

What makes your centre different from others? We are a centre full of passionate educators who are always striving for the best. We focus on sharing fun and meaningful experiences with the children. When walking into the centre you are immediately greeted with a warm home-like feeling and you can see the love shared around the centre. Sustainability is one of our centre passions, with a learning garden area devoted to sustainable practices. Our community connects are important to us, we love getting out and exploring our community, participating in community projects and developing close relationships with other community organisations.

Meet our Educational Leader

Name: Melissa Bentley

Years in Child Care: 10

Qualifications: Diploma

What makes you passionate about Early Childhood Education? I enjoy playing a special role in the first and most important years of many children’s lives. It’s so fulfilling and heart warming to build such close bonds as I watch the children grow each day. Every day is a new and exciting experience as the children master a new skill and take part in a new adventure. I feel so privilege to share those precious moments.

How would you apply the national Quality Standards and EYLF for Educational Programming? The National Quality Standards and Early Years Learning Framework are the foundations for an engaging, dynamic, and educational learning program. Each program is carefully designed with each child’s individual strengths, interests, culture, and ideas in focus. Our programs are flexible and support the children’s autonomy and growing sense of agency as they take control of their own educational journey. Our educators are thoughtful and purposeful as they engage children in each learning experience, fostering their sense of identity, physical and emotional wellbeing and guide them as they grow in to competent and enthusiastic learners.

Meet our Assistant Centre Manager

Name: Maggae Doney

Years in Child Care: 4 Years

Qualifications: Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood and Primary)

What makes you passionate about Early Childhood Education? I love getting to know each and every child and building relationships with them as I support them to develop and grow into confident young people. I love feeling a part of their family and watching them grow from young children into confident preschoolers who are ready for Kindergarten! Seeing their smiling faces and personalities grow and develop over the years is the best part of my job.

What makes your centre different from others? I love our sense of community. I feel a great sense of belonging to the educators, children and families. I hope this is something I pass on to our families and they feel as connected to our community as I do. I also really love our community garden and the unique learning opportunities they allow our children to have. The children love collecting the chicken eggs and caring for our learning garden.

Meet our Third in Charge & Educational Leader

Name: Annika Newton

Years in Child Care: 11 years

Qualifications: Bachelor of Teaching/Bachelor of Early Childhood Studies

What makes you passionate about Early Childhood Education? The early years are such an important time in our lives and I am passionate about surrounding children with people who understand the importance of care and education and value each child what makes them unique. As educational leader I get to work with our staff to develop their skills and knowledge. I enjoy working with families to ensure we provide the best care for their child when they cant be with them. I believe children are creative and ingenious thinkers. I believe they deserve respect with space and time to explore their ideas and understanding of the world. I love getting collaborating with children to help them explore their ideas and build respectful and fulfilling relationships with children and adults around them.

What makes your centre different from others? I love our sense of community. I feel a great sense of belonging to the educators, children and families. I hope this is something I pass on to our families and they feel as connected to our community as I do. I also really love our chickens. It has been really exciting getting to see the children looking after them and watching the chickens grow. Our garden area combined with our healthy food menu prepared in our kitchen really allow children to develop a good relationship with food, sustainability and activity and builds a healthy foundation for children to learn.