The guiding principle of our service is that ‘The best interests of the child are paramount’. How do we make that happen? We begin by making the child the centre of our approach by building everything we do on our Centre philosophy.

Our philosophy is to include all children in our Little Stars family and make a positive contribution to their future success by delivering high-quality education and care. We acknowledge that contemporary research has made explicit the connection between the quality of relationships in children’s early years and their future positive cognitive and social development.

We recognise the importance of quality early childhood education and care practices and settings and acknowledge this is a priority in providing children with stimulating play experiences and learning environments which will positively enable all children to develop to their full potential.

We plan to stimulate indoor and outdoor environments based on play, children’s strengths and interests that support all aspects of children’s learning and provoke exploration, intrigue and discovery as this promotes opportunities for sustained and collaborative learning.

We work in partnership with children, families and the community to develop and plan a curriculum that supports a child’s sense of belonging, being and becoming.

Families are supported to provide their individual contributions and personal experiences as we recognise that good practice in early childhood education and care incorporates these contributions and experiences to develop inclusive care practices and play environments and build our cultural competence.

We are responsive to children’s needs and initiate positive engagement with their families to develop trust and respect to strengthen collaborative relationships.

We recognise the importance of working in partnership with families and that this enhances better outcomes for their children.

We aim to be highly supportive of our parents whilst providing warmth, love and security to each infant entrusted in our care. Our priority would be you and your little star as we work together to ensure a sense of security happiness and peace of mind.

Our carers will be carrying out certain activities that will be designed to develop the following

• Develop their physical strength and their hand-eye coordination.
• Develop their senses.
• Spatial orientation.
• Introduce them to an environment rich with sights and sounds.
• Encourage social – emotional interactions.

As regular and ongoing communication is a vital part of Little Stars we will always keep you informed of your child’s progress.

We know that children who develop good eating habits now will have better eating habits when they are older. Menus at Little Stars Childcare and Early Learning Centre are designed to promote healthy eating. The Menus have been tailored by a Nutritionist and our experienced in-house Chef prepares the meals.

Little Stars Childcare and Early Learning Centre provides nutritionally balanced meals with the dietary requirement:

• Breakfast
• Morning Snack
• Lunch
• Afternoon Tea with a snack
• Complimentary Birthday cake

Our Carers ensure that mealtimes are enjoyable and an opportunity for developing healthy eating habits.

Arrivals & Departures

• Parents / Guardians must accompany their children into the facility.
• An attendance record will be found in each room. Parent/Guardian are required to complete the child’s name and time of arrival and insert their signature. This will also be completed when you collect your child.
• Ensure that a staff member is made aware you are taking the child and leaving the premises.
• Staff will not permit the arrival or departure of any child by taxi unaccompanied.
• Staff will not allow any child to leave with any person who is NOT listed on the enrolment record as a person authorised to collect the child, or not accounted for in writing to staff on the day by the Parent/Guardian.

A copy of any custody / access arrangements must be forwarded to the Centre Director to place on file. Staff will not become involved in personal disputes between parents, therefore all details must be documented in writing by the court.

Infectious Diseases and Illness Emergency care

• Any infectious disease must be notified to the centre so that the other parents can be notified of the illness. Children who are unwell are to remain at home, or if they become ill while in the centre, staff will contact the parents or emergency contacts to collect the child from the centre.
• Where a child sustains an injury while attending the childcare, staff will make contact with the parents / guardian / emergency contact person as soon as practicable. Attending to your child’s injury is our first priority. Every attempt will be made to contact you should any incident occur.

Sun Smart Policy

Our Sun Smart Policy has been developed to ensure that all children attending Little Stars Childcare Centre are protected from skin damage caused by the harmful UV rays of the sun. Preventing sunburn and overexposure to UV assists in reducing the probability of skin cancer and skin damage. Staff are encouraged to access the daily Sun Smart UV Alert at sunsmart.com.au to find out daily sun protection times and assist with the implementation of this policy.

Complaints

If you have any concerns regarding the services and the facilities, please speak with the team at Little Stars. Alternatively, you can speak with the Centre Director. We encourage you to raise any concerns immediately, so that an amicable resolution can be found.

Enrolments

Please find the enrolments forms at our centre.

We will group your child according to his or her age and will generally remain in that group for the calendar year.

For further information please contact our friendly team at Little Stars.

Our Service

Within a beautiful, warm and homely setting we offer our 4-year-old funded kindergarten programs to the children within our communities. Our Kindergarten program is completely embedded into our long day care service and the beauty of this is that it is basically an added extra and the cost is included in your normal daily fees. It provides our families with an amazing school readiness program for the children whilst enabling flexibility for our working and busy families. Our families can easily meet the 15 hours of kindergarten requirements whilst continuing to use our service between the hours of 6:30am and 6:30pm.

Our high quality program meets affordability

If you’re looking for a play-based + structured kindergarten program to support your child’s preparation for school, consider 4-year-old.

* Little Stars has higher National Quality Standard ratings for kindergarten programs for early childhood education and care and follows the Reggio Emilia philosophy, it is an approach to teaching, learning and advocacy for children. In its most basic form, it is a way of observing what children know, are curious about and what challenges them. Teachers record these observations to reflect on developmentally appropriate ways to help children expand their academic and social potential.

* We offer a government-approved Kindergarten Program taught by Degree A qualified and passionate Teacher who is committed to supporting your child to develop a love of learning that will set them up for future learning as they transition into their school life.

* Programs are based on the National Quality Framework and the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework.

* Children get a tailored approach, based on their interests individual abilities and strengths, inquiry base plan for each term and needs as they prepare for school and life

* Provides a very exciting calendar of events including special days, educational visits, excursions, incursion concerts, graduation and much more.

Transition to School (School Readiness)

* The School Readiness Program prepares your child to successfully make the important transition from 4-year-old Kindergarten into Primary School. A smooth transition from Kindergarten to school lays the foundation for future positive learning experiences.

* We encompass a range of specific content-rich experiences within our kindergarten curriculum that reflect the Early Years Learning Framework as well as the Australian School Curriculum. This has specific learning areas that enable children to become successful, confident and creative individuals and active and informed citizens. As well as the outcomes listed earlier these learning areas include; Language & Literacy, Numeracy, Science, Humanities, Arts, Technology, Health and Physical Education.

* The year before children transition to Primary School is crucial for so many reasons. Children need to start Kindergarten with the basic foundations for literacy and numeracy, including how to recognise their name and possibly even write it. To be able to possibly recognise numerals and count with meaning. We are confident that the children who participate in our Kindergarten Program will feel confident as they start their first year of school as social, confident, resilient, independent children. This includes being able to share, cooperate in a variety of situations, look after their belongings, negotiate with peers during conflict situations, concentrate on a task for long periods.

* Through a holistic approach to school readiness we believe the children will be more prepared for school as they will have had time to develop the life skills necessary to aid for a smooth transition into their Primary School journey. Through our Kindergarten Program, we support and help prepare the children for the next step in their educational achievements.