Best performing northern beaches childcare centres
Not sure which childcare centre to pick for your child? Here is a list of the top performers on the beaches and why they are excelling in their field.
Manly
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Choosing the best childcare centre for your child is never easy, especially as some now come with slick marketing campaigns, as well as eye-watering fees.
But a good place to start is with the government regulator, who assesses all the childcare centres to see how they’re performing against set standards.
The NSW Department of Education judges every centre on seven quality areas, such as educational programs and physical environment.
The Manly Daily has done the hard work and found all the childcare centres that are currently excelling on the peninsula, according to the The Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority’s National Quality framework.
Happily, the northern beaches has more than its fair share of centres that are getting the top marks, with one suburb in particular outshining all the others.
Not all suburbs boast a centre that is exceeding standards, but Brookvale has six, while Manly and Belrose both have four.
Best-performing childcare centres on the beaches:
The Farmhouse Montessori School, Balgowlah
Principal Gavin McCormack said what set his preschool apart from others was that the environment helps instil a level of independence in the children that you don’t see elsewhere.
He said the children have choices and work independently.
“There’s little conflict because they have choices,” he said.
Parents who come in to see the place generally find it to be calm and serene and children aged from two to five years old, functionally independently.”
Mr McCormack said they orientated the learning around the child.
“They are extremely happy to come to school,” he said.
“Everyone gets to feel they follow their passions every single day.
“The children are extremely engaged in school.”
Mr McCormack said all the staff were extremely dedicated.
The Village Creative Education, Brookvale
At this nature-based childcare centre the kids come home “dirty but happy’, according to educational leader Blythe Scully.
She said the centre, which takes 45 children aged two to five daily, said they are not separated by age because they believe the younger ones learn from the older ones.
“It’s much more free flowing than other centres,” Ms Scully said.
“The children help with the cooking and making the meals everyday.
“We are very nature-based.
“We have mud pits outside, and a pet bunny rabbit.
“If it is raining we have ‘wetsuits’ for the kids to put on so they can still get out.
“They also do a lot of painting.”
She said the staff were “awesome” and most had been there since it opened two and a half years ago.
She said if the staff were happy, the children were happy.
Explore and Develop Frenchs Forest
This centre backs right onto the bush, so nature plays a big role in the children’s daily activities.
Taryn Joseph, educational leader, said even the little ones can go on mini bushwalks.
Often they will come back with leaves, twigs or stones which they can then study or use as part of their learning.
They also have a 500 sqm outdoor play space. Daily visitors include bush turkeys, rabbit and lizards.
“We have a play-based curriculum,” Ms Joseph said.
The children take part in music and movement, literacy and art.
She added that the centre, which takes up to 90 children a day aged from birth to five years, was proud that it had been found to excel in all seven areas of the framework.
Ms Joseph said she had been with the centre 14 of the 16 years it had been open and many of the staff have worked there between five and 10 years.
“Our youngest staff member is 17 and the oldest is 68,” she said.
“So we have staff fresh to the sector, to the very experienced.”
Mi Kids, Warriewood
This is very much a family affair.
Melissa Cooper is the director of the childcare centre her dad helped build in 2018.
Her husband Ben is an assistant director of head of admin and her sister-in-law Isara Crea, is the cook. her brother does the landscaping.
Mrs Cooper said the philosophy behind the centre was her three boys who “all learn differently” and he wanted to celebrate that.
The family live above the centre.
“Every single person in my family have contributed to the centre and continue to do so, Mrs Cooper said.
The centre’s design revolves around open plan rooms.
There is also an inclusion support educator Melissa Traversa to help children who learn differently or who have needs.
She is there to support the child and their families, as well as helping them with applying for funding to get more teaching support.
Mrs Cooper said MI in the name of the centre stands for Multiple Intelligence.
The centre caters for up to 63 children aged six weeks to five.
FULL LIST:EXCEEDING STANDARDS ON THE NORTHERN BEACHES
Rosey Pot Kindergarten, Avalon
KU – Avalon Preschool, Avalon
Allambie Heights Children’s Centre, OSHC, Allambie Heights
Beacon Hill Community Kindergarten, Beacon Hill
The Farmhouse Montessori School, Balgowlah
Belrose Early Learning Centre, Belrose
Uniting Forest Preschool, Belrose
St Stephens Belrose Kindergarten, Belrose
Belrose Community and Children’s Centre, Belrose
The Village Creative Education, Brookvale
I Steam Ahead, Brookvale
Little Zak’s Academy, Brookvale
Brookvale Occasional Care, Brookvale
Brookvale Children’s Centre, Brookvale
Sandcastles Childcare Brookvale, Brookvale
Collaroy Plateau Community Kindergarten, Collaroy Plateau
Northern beaches Council Family Day Care, Cromer
Cromer Vacation Care, Cromer
Dee Why Children’s Centre, Dee Why
Explore and Develop, Dee Why
Elanora Heights Community preschool, Elanora Heights
The Roundhouse Children’s centre, Fairlight
The Y Forestville OSHC, Forestville
Busy Bees at Killarney Heights, Killarney Heights
KU Killarney Heights Preschool, Killarney Heights
Manly Oosh Inc, Manly
Leaps and Bounds Preschool, Manly
Manly Community Pre-School, Manly
Kid City Kindergarten, Manly
St Kieran’s Outside School Hours Care, Manly Vale
Only About Children, Mona Vale
Mona Vale Kindergarten, Mona Vale
Little Diggers preschool on the Plateau, Narrabeen
Narrabeen Community Kindergarten, Narrabeen
Explore and Develop, Narraweena
Explore and Develop OSHC, Narraweena
Bardo Road Kindergarten, Newport
KU Bligh Park preschool, Seaforth
German International School Sydney Preschool, Terrey Hills
Kinma Preschool, Terrey Hills
Thinkersinq, Terrey Hills
Green Umbrella OSHC, Terrey Hills
Mi Kids, Warriewood
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