In my opinion, professional childcare starts with the children and then we build a centre around them. My goal with any childcare centre is to see how much fun kids can have in the space we create in order to give them the best possible start in life.
Remember when you were young and spent your days outdoors, playing in the sandpit, digging in the garden, feeding farm animals and splashing around in a make-shift water park? While those activities aren’t daily occurrences for many children today, they are in our Early Learning Centres.
We create environments where children thrive, where they can wander, be left alone for more than five minutes, sleep in a tent or on the ground and stare at the stars past their bedtime. I call this their ‘wildhood’. Kids want their ‘wildhood’ back, they want to play for real not have play dates, they want to get dirty not sanitized, and they want parents to swap their parenting books for a fishing rod or camping gear.
Children these days are so used to being entertained by electronic devices, many of them have forgotten how to entertain themselves. But it’s crucial for their development, imagination and preparing them for school … plus it’s one of the simplest joys in life!
Research has shown that children exposed to play-based education in natural and diverse settings:
Smithfield Village Early Learning is a great example of how our centres emphasise ‘real play’. Here, children’s shoes are optional and getting dirty is compulsory. The centre’s outdoor play space has a waterpark, sand pits, bike tracks and a barnyard full of goats, chickens, birds and reptiles including turtles and snakes which makes embracing their ‘wildhood’ even more fun!
Childcare really is simple, however I’ve seen so many centre owners complicate it time and time again. From the front gate to the back fence, it's about a centre that chooses the right attitude to create and develop environments within their rooms and playgrounds, and who understand what children and parents want to experience.
One of my core beliefs is that managing relationships is the key to a successful childcare business. The centres we build and develop are truly unique, with a balance between education, care, play and ‘wildhood’ – that’s what really sets us apart. However, we are also focussed on outcomes and from one family owned business to another, we make a big difference in the lives of the community, the centre’s staff and the children they are responsible for.
Happy staff make for happier children and happy children means happier parents, so this makes childcare easy and rewarding for everyone. You are already raising amazing children, so trust us with the next part of their journey, which will prepare them for school and their exciting futures ahead.
