Penrith’s best performing childcare centres
Wondering which childcare centre to pick for your child? We did the heavy lifting to find the top performing childcare centres in Penrith.
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Choosing a childcare centre is hard, especially when you get bombarded by information about development stages and learning outcomes.
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 based on seven quality areas, such as educational programs and physical environment.
The Penrith Press has done the hard work and found all the childcare centres excelling in the region, according to the The Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority’s National Quality framework (ACECQA).
Happily, Penrith 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 which is exceeding standards, but Penrith has eight, while St Clair has five.
Explore and Develop Penrith South
Accessible from the M4 and close to the Nepean Hospital Precinct, Explore and Develop Penrith South is the perfect pick for kids with busy parents who live or work nearby.
Mothers Diane Pelle and Catherine Sansom started the centre and say their rule of thumb is to provide families with nothing less than what they’d expect for their own children.
The pair said they were passionate about care and education, with the centre adopting an “emergent curriculum”, which uses children’s interests to plan programs which help them problem solve, think rationally and use skills of trial and error
“We teach children through their interests,” co-owner Ms Pelle said. “We make sure we can teach literacy and sciences while making sure they are emotionally and mentally ready for big school.”
The Penrith centre also prides itself on spending time with families to build a connection to the child’s home, which fundamentally links the child’s beliefs, culture and facilitates communication.
“We are very big on children’s voice, making sure they are heard and building connections with the family is also of utmost importance,” Ms Pelle said.
“We have indoor and outdoor programs but we do like to incorporate nature inside as well.
“We have big respect for nature and try to integrate Indigenous cultures and other cultures into our programs. It’s about not being tokenistic and having touches of cultural thoughtfully placed around the whole centre.”
Boasting an overall rating of “exceeding NQS” from the ACECQA since 2016, Ms Pelle put the excellent report card down to staying focused.
“We focus on hard work and keeping it very simple,” she said.
“It’s a very busy industry and to be child focused you need to make sure you keep it simple. Keeping it simple by maintaining our relationships with children and families is an art form.”
Little Zak‘s Academy Jordan Springs
Since opening in 2014, the team at Little Zak’s Academy Jordan Springs have gone above and beyond to provide high-quality care for children at their centre, which has paid off by way of local business awards.
The centre prides itself on exposing children to incursions and implementing an intense school readiness program for preschool-aged children.
The Jordan Springs team aim to provide an exciting early learning environment which promotes physical and emotional development for children which, in turn, builds a strong foundation for lifelong learning.
Little Zak’s Academy Jordan Springs centre director Leanne Gill told the Penrith Press her team focused on individualised “play-based learning”.
“Our dedicated team offers childcare with a difference,” Ms Gill said. “We offer lots of extra-curricular activities and provide everything a child needs for growth and development.
“Our older children can tell us what they’re interested in and their families set goals for their children and we help them reach that. We follow on with their interest and ideas, encouraging a play-based learning model”.
The trendy childcare centre boasts a spacious building with a number of interesting features.
“We have indoor and outdoor areas and separate rooms by ages across two levels with seven classrooms,” she said.
“We have a coy fish pond, chickens and worms. We also have a community library that is open to the whole community in Jordan Springs.”
The centre has glowing Google reviews with a current overall rating of “meeting NQS”, which the centre is hoping to nudge into the “exceeding” range with their recent assessment.
“We’ve been open for seven years and have built a good, strong local reputation. We’ve just gone through the NQF assessment and are awaiting our new rating,” Ms Gill said.
Greenwood Early Education Centre Penrith
No doubt you’ve seen Thornton’s gorgeous heritage listed building on drives around the area but did you know that it is now a spiffy chic childcare centre?
Greenwood Early Education Centre Penrith centre manager Bianca Kirkland told the Penrith Press about how the centre is home to a whole other world.
“As you open the door to our centre, you’ll be immersed in a world where children are encouraged to explore and learn,” Ms Kirkland said.
“Our large outdoor areas include cubby houses, sandpits and vegetable gardens to engage all the senses. Our indoor spaces invite exploration with quality resources and learning experiences.”
The centre puts thought into its curriculum by taking into account children’s interests, curiosity, culture, background, family input, and the learning pace.
“We program to meet the Five Early Years Learning Outcomes that have been outlined by the Australian Government Department of Education and Training in a play-based curriculum that is tailored to each individual child,” Ms Kirkland said.
Greenwood also offers their children a number of other activities.
“Children also have access to two engaging specialised programs per term including yoga and soccer program taught by qualified professionals. These fun and engaging programs enhance the daily program,” Ms Kirkland said.
“Each year we have a dental visit and the families are able to use their service through Medicare. We also have a program called STEPS who come out yearly to check the eyesight of the four-year-old children in our centre.”
Excursions into the community, including trips to the retirement village, are a frequent part of the centre’s schedule which encourages children to connect with the community that surrounds them.
If you’re looking for a space where your child can explore and grow while having fun, Ms Kirkland says Greenwood is the place for you.
“Literacy and numeracy concepts are embedded in play-based learning, as children engage as architects, storytellers, scientists, artists, and designers.”
The centre currently holds a ‘Working Towards NQS’ rating but holds a 4.8 star rating on Google reviews.
Penrith Early Learning Centre
Open from 7am to 6pm, all year round, this sun smart childcare centre provides full-time and occasional care for babies and children aged zero to six years of age.
Educational leader at Penrith Early Learning Centre Emily Gould said the centre’s point of difference was it “harnesses the environment as a third teacher” by teaching children how to live in the world around them.
“We firmly believe in the need for indoor and outdoor play so we always keep our doors open so the children can intuitively choose when to be inside and outside,” Ms Gould said.
“We teach them about sun safety and help them to regulate themselves so they can thrive independently. Allowing them to pick when they’re outdoors and indoors gives them the opportunity to do this and prepare for big school.”
Penrith Early Learning Centre is passionate about using children’s interests to teach them broader life skills.
“Our curriculum is child sensitive and takes feedback from families on board but we don’t have solid timelines, rather we use the children’s interests to meet goals,” Ms Gould said.
“For example, we had children who liked Pokemon so we used that to teach them maths and encourage them to read more. By listening to our kids, we’re able to support them to learn in a range of areas.”
The centre has stellar reviews on Google and are now working on upping their NQF rating with the upcoming assessment.
“We were rated exceeding in quite a few areas and received exceeding themes in all areas, even if we weren’t rated exceeding overall,” Ms Gould said.
“We’re already preparing for the next NQF process. We have a lot of positive reviews and we have great relationships with families.”
Penrith Montessori Academy – Penrith
Located just off the High St, Penrith Montessori Academy is nestled on Penrith’s Evan St and offers care for children aged six weeks to six years.
They offer nutritious catered meals, pride themselves on being sun-safe, are allergy aware, and have safe drop-off and pick-up parking.
The single storey campus offers four classrooms for infants, toddlers and preschoolers which provide an optimal learning environment by catering to children’s interests and needs at each stage of development.
Beyond the classrooms, there are two outdoor play spaces enriched with a range of gross motor activities to inspire learning through exploration.
The zero to two-year-old outdoor space features gardens, a sandpit, climbing equipment, mud kitchen, soft spaces, slide, water play, and room to crawl, walk, and run.
The outdoor spaces for two to six year olds have a slide, rock climbing wedge, climbing equipment, bikes, dramatic play corner, dress ups, sandpit, gardens and water play.
To top it all off, the educators personalise the curriculum to suit each child by observing their interests and directing them towards activities suited to their stage of development.
Penrith Montessori Academy has had an overall rating of ‘Exceeding NQS’ since 2016.
FULL LIST: EXCEEDING STANDARDS IN THE PENRITH AREA
Bright Stars Kindergarten, Penrith
Carita Children's Centre, Penrith
Catholic Out of School Hours Care St Nicholas of Myra, Penrith
Cook Parade Childrens Centre, St Clair
Emu Village Outside School Hours Service, Emu Plains
Erskine Park Children's Centre, Erskine Park
Explore and Develop, Penrith
Glenmore Park Child and Family Centre, Glenmore Park
Grays Lane Children's Centre, Cranebrook
Gumbirra Children‘s Centre, St Clair
Kindana Children's Centre, St Clair
Kindana Outside School Hours Service, St Clair
Kingswood Park Public School Preschool, Kingswood
St Marys Preschool, St Marys
Strauss Road Children's Centre, St Clair
The Emu Plains Kids Place, Emu Plains
Wattle Glenn Children's Centre, Cambridge Gardens
Werrianda Children's Centre, Werrington Downs
Werrington County Childrens Centre, Werrington County
Werrington County Osh, Werrington County
Western Sydney University Early Learning Penrith, Kingswood
Yoorami Children's Centre, Werrington
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