Our centre offers the Victorian Government-approved ‘Kinder: Best Start, Best Life’ program for 3–4-year-olds, providing up to 15 hours per week of funded Kindergarten. This program supports children’s learning, development, and well-being, setting them up for future success.

Our Enhanced Learning Program for Kindergarten children focuses on:

• Numeracy & Literacy: Developing key skills for lifelong learning.
• Self-Regulation: Fostering emotional control and resilience.
• Social & Emotional Development: Supporting independence and building healthy relationships.
• Creativity & Problem-Solving: Encouraging curiosity and critical thinking.

With extended hours and a year-round program (excluding public holidays), our Kindergarten program is delivered by qualified Early Childhood Teachers committed to supporting your child’s individual development.

Additional Benefits Include:

• Government subsidy: Further reduces out-of-pocket Kinder fees in addition to your eligible Childcare Subsidy (CCS).
• Personalised Learning Plans: Tailored to your child’s unique needs.
• Rhythm and Resilience Program: Music and movement to improve emotional regulation.
• School Readiness: Preparing your child for a smooth transition to school.

We also engage with local schools and provide transition statements, ensuring your child feels confident and prepared for the next steps in their education journey. Stay connected with your child’s progress via our Xplor platform, which offers regular updates on their learning and development.

“Let the child be the scriptwriter, director and the actor in their own play” - Magda Gerber

Nursery Space: 6 weeks – 2 years

Learning starts from before birth, and our Educators have created a welcoming and nurturing nursery environment where each baby feels safe to explore and discover new things - through their senses, their communication and cues (body language, facial expression and sounds) and through experimentation. On any given day you can see the nursery children engaging in all types of play including sensory play, music time, story time and more. Every day provides a brand new, exciting adventure for our babies to support their development, learning and wellbeing.

Toddler Space: 2 - 3 years

Our teachers and educators encourage the children to learn through play to help enhance their sensory-motor development. This happens through carefully planned music, dance, games, role playing and reading experiences.

On any given day the Toddlers can be seen developing their numeracy by building a tower, sorting objects, pointing and identifying shapes and patterns and participating in counting songs and games.

Children in our toddler space are encouraged to participate in group play. Group play is important as it helps our toddlers develop important social skills such as, turn-taking, developing self-confidence and emotional self-regulation. Our skilled team helps children through talking, planning and role modelling.

Kindergarten Space: 3 – 6 years

Kindergarten is a unique time for learning with peers and developing skills for later learning including confidence and curiosity, important skills for starting school. Our play-based program has school readiness at its core, encouraging active engagement in learning and supporting a range of positive developmental outcomes including resilience, independence, critical thinking and creativity.

The oral language supports literacy learning and a child’s oral language ability is the best predictor for later success in learning to read and write. Hearing the sounds within a language is the first critical step for all literacy learning. Our team supports our Kindergarten children's literacy development by engaging in rich discussions, reading, storytelling, dramatic play and experimentation all of which introduce new vocabulary as part of everyday conversations.

Throughout the Kindergarten year, children use their language to share ideas, ask questions, express themselves, and connect with peers and adults in social settings.

Social-emotional skills, including the ability to self-regulate emotions, are supported through group learning experiences. Our team supports each child’s social and emotional development by labelling and talking about emotions and supporting appropriate responses as together, they engage in new and challenging situations. Our goal in the kindergarten year is to prepare children and families for a smooth transition to primary school.

Our centre chef prepares and cooks nutritious meals daily, catering to the unique dietary requirements of every child. We believe that by encouraging active participation (such as growing their own fruit and vegetables, preparing, and finally cooking!) children learn to appreciate and understand the importance of healthy eating across a wide variety of food.

Our centre offers seasonal whole food-based menus – created to delight the fussiest eaters.

I started working in early learning in 2012. Throughout my journey with G8 education, I have taken a few centre manager roles in various G8 centres. From June 2021, I have been appointed as a centre manager at Kindy Patch Clarinda.

I have been in early childhood education for almost 10 years. During my career, I have worked in newly start-up centres and established large centres in various capacities. My early childhood career started as a lead educator, assistant centre manager, and centre manager roles in other G8 centres in Victoria. I am pleased to become a leader of my team in Kindy Patch Clarinda and look forward to meeting new families. I have a Bachelor of Education in Early Childhood degree. 

After serving many years in the early childhood industry,, I have gained lots of experience and knowledge about children’s development. I am dedicated to supporting every child’s growth in a safe and supportive environment. I do this by allowing children to make their own choices whilst guiding positive behaviour and respecting their individuality. For me working in the early childhood industry is a rewarding job. I love the opportunity to teach future leaders of our world, showing them their worth, potential, and the ability to form their own opinions. I love to witness this special moment of every individual child’s achievement and celebrating these events with our families and communities.

Understanding children’s individuality and respecting their culture is important for me. Informed by this, I strive to implement an inclusive curriculum for all the children in our care. Our program consists of play-based learning. It is inclusive, promotes competence and the child’s sense of agency. Our environment works as a ‘third teacher’, allowing the children to freely explore and learn.

I love Regio Amelia’s approach to helping children on their learning and life journey, which values that children are competent and capable citizens who are full of wonder and have the curiosity to learn. I will connect this approach with our play-based learning giving the children more opportunities to investigate and experiment with a wide range of resources and materials to develop concepts and skills that are important for their 21st-century learning.

I believe children who attend early childhood education have greater benefits such as social, emotional and physical development alongside building a foundation for lifelong learning and wellbeing. They perform better in primary schools with numeracy and literacy levels and settle into a school environment with a positive attitude. We understand how important this milestone is for the children and the parents when transitioning children to primary school.

The Kindy Patch Clarinda team is passionate about the quality of our service. We uplift and celebrate each other and are proud of the community we have created. We exceed in everything we do and consistently ensure high standards in all aspects of our service. Our team is made of up long-serving, multicultural team members who reflect our local community. During the year, we look forward to celebrating our diversity through events, languages and stories. Many team members have been with the service for more than nine years. All our team members have completed the child protection training and have extensive knowledge and experience in maintaining a child-safe environment for every child in our care.

I do meet and greet in the mornings and welcome all the families and children. I am always available to support and answer any inquires and questions that parents have. I respect every family and their culture, giving me the opportunities to connect with every family in our care. I value all the families’ cultures, festivals and events and work together with my team to celebrate them together. During children’s birthdays, we welcome the parents to join with children in their classroom to celebrate. Parents will visit for a short time to sing happy birthday and share the cake with the children. We share our news, articles and special calendar of events with the parents so that families could contribute to those events. We love getting connected with our community! Our team at Kindy Patch Clarinda are so excited to get to know you and cannot wait to support your families to start the journey with us.