Our centre offers the VIC Government-approved ‘Best Start, Best Life’ Kindergarten Program.

At World of Learning, your child will benefit from the VIC ‘Best Start, Best Life’ Government-approved program as part of our enhanced learning program. Our program will support your child’s learning, development, and well-being for now, at school and beyond. We tailor our Kindergarten program across:

- Numeracy

- Literacy

- Emotional and Social Development

- Self regulation

- Healthy minds and bodies

The added benefits of our Kindergarten program include:

- VIC ‘Best Start, Best Life’ Government-approved program

- Extended opening hours

- Open all year round (excl public holidays)

- Programs developed and delivered by our Early Childhood Teachers

- Exclusive music and movement program for self-regulation

“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 by experimenting. On any given day you can see the nursery children engaging in all types of play, water 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 and reading experiences.

On any given day the Toddler children 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 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 encourages active engagement in learning and supports a range of positive developmental outcomes including resilience, independence, critical thinking and creativity.

The oral language supports literacy learning. 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 development by engaging in rich discussions, introducing new vocabulary as part of everyday conversations, as well as singing, playing games, and reading with the children daily.

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, is supported through group learning environments. 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. Lastly, ensuring that all children are ready for the ‘big school’ by preparing them for all that ‘big school’ has to offer.

Our centre chef prepares and cooks healthy and 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.

Our centre offers children nutrient-rich, unprocessed, and seasonal whole foods – created to delight the fussiest eaters.

Hi my name is Sharyn and I am the Centre Manager here at Thornbury World of Learning. I began my career in early childhood education and care in 1993 and started working at Thornbury World of Learning in 2007. I hold a Diploma in Children’s Services and am trained in Child Protection and First Aid.

I have always wanted to work with children in an educational setting to provide children with every opportunity to grow and develop into their own person. I am very passionate about providing an environment where children can feel safe, secure, loved and supported to foster their development. 

We understand that parents need a place where they can drop off their precious children to people that genuinely care about them and will help them in those crucial first five years of their learning journey, many people influence a child’s learning and development. All children have in built curiosity and potential, our role is to help the children to achieve their milestones during their time with us at Thornbury World of Learning. 

We have long-serving, multicultural team members who reflect our local community. Many have been with the centre for over 10 years. We are a centre where everyone knows all the children, no matter which room they are in. We are such a close-knit team it feels like one big family. We are a very passionate team who believe that it is incredibly important to help children establish the building blocks for a successful lifetime of learning. 

We feel that the health and safety of a child is so important and always ensure within our day to day practices that a child’s health and safety is never compromised. We as a team ensure that all children are protected at all times and feel safe and secure. 

Our centre is a home away from home providing a warm homely feel within our room environments. We work in partnership with our families to ensure this is the case, understanding each child’s individual needs. 

It is extremely important that our families have trust in us to care for their children, we believe that building strong relationships with our families is a huge part when a new family commences at the centre. We encourage our families to attend 3-4 orientation visits prior to commencement and also offer to extend visits if our families would like further visits. We encourage our families to check in at any time of the day if they wish to. 

We encourage our families to participate and attend our incursions and excursions and engage in our family celebrations such as our Christmas and Easter BBQ’s and family celebration days throughout the year to bring our local community together. 

As many of our team have children of their own and have been through the enrolment process, they are able to assist our new families in this process as well. We are here to help our families from supporting your enrolment process to providing tips when your child is orientating into the centre. 

A fun fact about me is that I have a little puppy called Tess who loves to chew on socks!