OUR PHILOSOPHY

  • We believe health and safety is the first and foremost priority in an education and care service. All educators are committed to providing a safe and healthy environment that is in line with child protection laws, code of ethics and the rights of the child. We strive to implement sustainable food practices, nutrition that is suited to the children while providing enjoyable, flexible meal times that is well-matched to the needs of the children. Our menu is planned according to dietary, cultural and nutritional needs.

  • We aim to create a natural, clean and purposeful environment where we can allow the environment to become the third teacher. The environment should reflect the child’s learning and development with aspects of the community and cultural diversity of our families evident in the learning areas. We believe the environment should support a child’s agency and autonomy with a selection of open-ended resources to invite children to investigate and engage in social learning.

We believe in providing a program that reflects the child’s knowledge, strengths and interests. We ensure that all children’s learning styles are acknowledged and form the basis of the program and believe family input is one of the primary sources in developing a program and cycle of continuous learning.

  • We promote relationships that are fair, non-bias and inclusive. We believe every child should be treated with dignity and respect at all times and has the fundamental right to participate in the educational program with an emphasis on supporting each child as a unique individual.

    We ensure all educators are accountable for the protection of all children in our care and ensure they know their responsibilities to any child at risk of harm, understand their reporting obligations and are aware of our risk management strategy which includes practices designed to ensure the safety and wellbeing of children is paramount.

  • We value the idea that children’s social and cultural contexts of their families and communities are a foundation for their learning and development of their identities. We believe families are the first and foremost educators in a children’s early years, as such we encourage family input into the program and strongly believe in building a relationship that is respectful and allows for communication that is open and honest. Ideally partnerships will include foundations for the collaboration of information regarding the child’s program; exchanging information about the child’s likes, dislikes, needs and strengths; the child’s culture and parenting practices; and sharing goals and concerns as they arise. We understand that not all parents engage with the service in the same way and each family will have a unique relationship with educators.

We believe in fostering respectful, reciprocal and responsive relationships with children as we see this as the foundation of their wellbeing and sense of identity.

  • The Grace Childcare Centre is committed to ongoing learning and growth to ensure we are culturally competent educators. We are on a path to closing the gaps in our knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ perspectives to ensure that we are able to embed these perspectives in our daily practice both in the delivery of our program as well as our environment.

    We are committed to forming ongoing meaningful relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples within our community and respectfully embedding their histories, perspectives and traditions into our centre? We are committed to ongoing learning about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples histories to ensure we have the tools and knowledge to respectfully teach that history in a way that is culturally sensitive and significant

    We relish opportunities to respectfully celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People's cultures and traditions. and strive to deepen these opportunities through active ongoing involvement of Aboriginal People's perspectives through programs, learning resources and professional development

    The Grace reflects on our curriculum planning to ensure that we assist children to make meaningful connections to the Land that we occupy. The educators provide opportunities to find common ground between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People's perspectives and their own by weaving a visual story of the pathways of knowledge and understanding

    We are excited to celebrate our progress in moving our service towards cultural competency and look forward to deepening our connections to an understanding of Australia’s First Nations peoples.

Leased by Waverley Council