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.

Hi, I'm Stephanie, the Centre Manager at Pelican Early Learning Cairnlea. I have been working in the early learning sector since 2019 and have been at Pelican Early Learning Cairnlea since 2021. I hold a Diploma in Early Childhood Education and Care and a Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care. My experience includes being a Nursery Lead Educator and an Educational Leader.

What inspired me to become an early childhood professional, is the role you play in shaping the lives of young children is enormous! The early years (0 – 5 years) are so important for the cognitive and emotional development of children, and often they’ll be spending a lot of that time with you. Through the relationships, you create with these children you can inspire their love of learning and help them develop those ever-important social skills.

I have enjoyed having an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of young children by providing quality experiences that encourage positive outcomes for children’s health, well-being, and learning. I have learnt that all children are uniquely different from personality to developmental stages, observing and planning for everyone provides a challenge but a highly rewarding outcome seeing their growth and development. Children will develop good habits, they will develop literacy and numeracy skills, they will develop emotional resilience, they will develop a lifelong love for learning.

Our team is extremely passionate about creating a centre that is a home away from home for both families and children where our team celebrates the diversity of all cultures. We’re fortunate to have educators who speak a variety of languages including Vietnamese, Macedonian and Hindi, to name just a few. The centre really is an extension of the home environment, and we work in partnership with families to ensure this is the case, understanding each child’s individual needs.

Building good relationships with families involves valuing each other’s knowledge of their child, valuing each other’s roles in their child’s life, trusting each other, communicating freely and respectfully with each other, sharing insights and perspectives about their child and engaging in shared decision making.