When my daughter was seeking good quality child care for her little one she asked me to go with her to visit some services and give her my opinion. As an early childhood educator myself - and a parent and grandparent - I know what questions to ask and I know what I'm looking at when I come into a service.
We visited four separate services. Most were large with way too many children in attendance (though still within legal ratios). Some had no outdoor area for under two's to explore and enjoy the fresh air. A couple were sparkling new with the latest in equipment, but no heart. It seemed a shame that we couldn't find what we were looking for. Smaller numbers, an outdoor area, nothing flashy - just genuine "old school" early childhood education and care, meals prepared onsite, and staff that we could speak to who actually work with the children.
Then I decided to look just one suburb outside our scope and found Oak Tree. We saw Elaine (the centre director that day) and enrolled my grandson straight away. It was everything that we were looking for. He's been there now for 4 months and we're still very impressed and he loves it there. The staff really know my grandson and genuinely care about him. We're excited for him to join the "big kids" room and continue his early childhood journey at Oak Tree Early Learning Centre. He's come such a long way and we know that his progress has been due to the wonderful care he receives there.
Thanks Oak Tree!
Michelle