Starfish Early Learning Centre - Springvale

Centre Philosophy
Starfish is a community of learners where the voices of families, children and educators are respected and valued. We aim to develop a sense of Belonging, Being and Becoming, as reflected in the Early Years Learning Framework (2009) for all our families, children and educators. We are committed to providing opportunities of play for children to explore, investigate, discover, hypothesise, make connections, imagine, create and grow. We will endeavour to create an environment that will provoke learning and allow for possibilities.

We provide education and care for children aged 6 weeks to kindergarten.
The centre consists of:

• 2 nurseries, 2 toddler rooms,
• 3 year old kinder and,
• Funded 4 year old kindergarten.

Building & classrooms

Starfish Early Learning Centres are purpose built and architecturally designed to enhance the natural play spaces available. Our facilities consist of 6 different rooms: 2 nurseries, 2 toddlers and 2 kindergarten rooms (3 & 4 year old funded kindergarten).

Each room is equipped with furniture that is fit for purpose, age appropriate and designed to enhance and promote a child’s learning experience. We at Starfish ELC promote natural environmental settings and have furnished the rooms with timber tables, chairs, cots and high chairs, to name a few. We have also adopted nature in our outdoor play spaces by creating an environment which minimizes the use of rubber and artificial products with sand, tan bark and stones.

Kitchen & Nutrition

Our Kitchen has a 5 Star Food Hygiene rating (as assessed by City of Whitehorse), is kept hygienically clean and maintained on a daily basis with regular audits scheduled to maintain hygiene. Children are provided with freshly prepared meals that are nutritionally balanced by our qualified chef on a daily basis. Hot and cold meals are served from a variety of different cultural backgrounds to enhance their learning experience during meal times by exposing them to multiple colours and textures. We only source our raw produce from reputable local suppliers who deliver two to three times per week.

Due to a growing number of children at risk of anaphylaxis, Starfish Early Learning Centre is free from all forms of nuts, nut products and eggs are prohibited from the centre. Cakes are made with egg free recipes and/or using an egg replacement.

Meals and menus are produced on a 4 weeks rotational basis and can be viewed at your respective centre.