Hours
The centre is a long day care centre catering for children from six months to 5 years of age and operates from 7.00am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday 52 weeks each year, closing only on public holidays.
Fees – what we provide
Non-refundable enrolment fee: $60 for the first child and $30 each sibling
Parents are reminded that there is an enrolment fee to cover the cost of the welcome pack, which must be paid when the enrolment form is handed back. This fee covers the cost of our administration to process your child’s information and confirms your booking.
The centre provides:
• All meals and beverages (full morning tea, hot lunch and afternoon tea)
• Nappies
• All bedding and linen
• Sunscreen
• Welcome pack – backpack, legionnaire’s hat, water bottle
Please note, due to the variety of dietary requirements, our centre will not provide formula for babies each day, so we request that each family provide their choice of formula.
What to bring
Clothing
Please provide a complete change of clothes for your child on each day of attendance. More than one change may be required for children currently toilet training or those partial to water play. Children’s clothes that become soiled will be returned home in a plastic bag. Remember to mark your child’s clothing and that it’s important that your child is comfortable and their clothing is weather appropriate. Also remember your children are very busy during their day and tend to get very messy and dirty, please consider this when dressing your child.
Toys
Children may bring comfort toys to the centre particularly for sleep or rest time. The centre, however, is not responsible for the loss or damage incurred to any toys. Please do not send expensive or loved items that will be missed, as it is sometimes difficult to keep track of toys and loss may cause distress to the child.
Creams, Bottles and Dummies
At The Tree House Early Childhood Centre we require you to supply your own nappy rash lotion for your child, clearly named for your child’s individual use. This will prevent cross infection. You will need to fill out a medication form for nappy rash creams giving the educators permission to apply it. For hygiene purposes, all bottles and dummies must be clearly labeled and dummies must be stored in a sealed container.
Other Items
Coats and beanies on cold days
Sun hats at all other times
Sunscreen is provided by the centre. If your child has sensitive skin to sunscreen products you will need to provide your own labeled sunscreen.
Child Care Benefit
Childcare Benefit is available at The Tree House Early Childhood Centre. Child Care Benefit (CCB) is a Commonwealth funded program administered by the Family Assistance Office and designed to reduce the cost of quality childcare. All Australian resident families using approved child care are eligible for CCB. The amount of this fee relief depends on your income, hours of care used, and the number of children you have in care. CCB can be claimed as a direct fee reduction from the centre or as a lump sum at the end of the financial year. If you wish to claim CCB then you must contact the Family Assistances Office on 136150. Applications must be made to the Family Assistance Office before the commencement of child care. The Family Assistance Office will assess your family income and notify you as to your entitlements. Translation services are available from the Family Assistance Office if required. Parents will be required to notify the FAO that your child will be attending The Tree House Early Childhood Centre to link them to the centre and full fees will be charged until your child is registered with the Family Assistance office. Any fees paid prior to the application of CCB will be adjusted accordingly.
Child Care Tax Rebate
The Federal Government provides parents with a 50% rebate – a non refundable tax offset that is limited to 50% of your out of pocket child care expenses. Out of pocket expenses are your total child care fees less your Child Care Benefit. The maximum amount parents are entitled to claim for each child is $7,500. As a non-refundable tax offset, this rebate is used to reduce the tax you would ordinarily have paid over the year. Parents may apply for Child Care Benefits through their local Family Assistance Office on 136150. Parents will be required to notify the FAO that your child will be attending The Tree House Early Childhood Centre to link them to the centre.
Our Philosophy
We value early childhood education as the foundation for lifelong learning. We believe that each child is a unique individual and should be viewed, respected and treated as such. As the welfare and wellbeing of each child is paramount, we strive to provide holistic support of the child’s exclusive requirements and interests in a nurturing, familial environment that fosters the child’s development across all developmental domains.
Carers at the Tree House place an extremely high value on the environment in the early learning context. For this reason, careful attention and detail is encapsulated in its design so as to allow for rich, authentic experiences to occur on a full time basis. Our early learning context supports scaffolding children’s learning and development through quality interactions with peers, parents and carers in the overall attempt to pave the way for an exploratory understanding of themselves, the world around them and their place in it.
Our educational programs are reflective of emergent curriculum and adhere to guidelines set by QIAS, NCAC and The Early Years Learning Framework, taking the child’s developmental level into account. Our programs are completed and implemented daily. A sizeable portion of them is occupied by planned implications observed in individual children; however, there is also substantial opportunity for the children to participate in spontaneous independent experiences as part of play based learning. Experiences at the setting afford children the opportunity to develop a plethora of skills in exploration, self-discovery, social interactions and problem solving among others, in the overall attempt to set the children up for success respectively. Educators at the Tree House complete learning stories while observing the children and share these with parents and guardians upon completion.
As educator’s focus on the experiences of the ‘whole’ child, there is a large emphasis placed on nutrition and foods provided for the children on a daily basis. Meal times at the Tree House are presented to the children in such a way that classifies them as an educational tool. Carefully planned and prepared menus align with guidelines for daily recommended intakes of the food groups, specifically referring to the needs of children. Our menus are reflective of cultural diversity and exposure and are respectful of preferences, allergies and intolerances of the children. All food prepared for the children is fresh and prepared by our formally qualified cook. Children are encouraged to practise self-service of meals during these social experiences as a means of preparing them for their future. Meal times are integrated with other key learning areas such as dental hygiene.
Staff at the Tree House are dedicated professionals that value the importance of maintaining an optimum level of care and education for all children. It is of significance to highlight the fact that all staff working with children have obtained formal qualifications in the field of early childhood. Independent of the qualification that they hold, the staff are consistently developing and refining their professional practices, attending additional training to keep abreast with and effectively address evolving issues within the setting. All staff strictly abides by a specialised code of ethics, ensuring that duty of care is successfully honoured at all times. Additionally we draw importance to the advantageous staff-child ratios delivered at the Tree House. The staff firmly adheres to staff-child ratios for all age groups in accordance with regulations and is able to provide our youngest students with a staff-child ratio of 1:3 during peak periods.
We place an extremely high value and importance on partnerships as a means of developing the best possible environment for children at the Tree House.
Partnerships with families provide us with invaluable information relating to cultural backgrounds and heritage. Carers strive to build relationships with families based in co-operation and a mutual respect for the reciprocal roles that each play in the lives of the child. Partnerships with families are developed through daily discussion, newsletters and meetings. Moreover, the Tree House’s open door policy, aims to facilitate an open flow of communication while maintaining confidentiality and respect of the privacy and wishes of each family, resulting in the highest levels of customer service.
Partnerships with industry professionals assist staff development and expansion of the curriculum to meet the individual and collective needs of all children. Needs based n cultural identity, additional support education and medical interventions all require greater individual knowledge and supported cooperative teams assures all children are facilitated in an inclusive environment as best as possible.
Our respectful ties with Revesby Worker’s Club have been a catalyst in the development of our partnership with the local community more broadly, evoking a sense of belonging in the children and a growing awareness of their place in their community. Creating social capital through their own interactions and participations within their local community enables the children to be recognised and have value.
We believe that early childhood is a celebration of learning and honour of diversity that when valued and nurtured appropriately, fosters individuals that can positively contribute to their community and the greater society.
Policy Review
We routinely review all centre policies and procedures and seek the views of parents in this process. Please click on each link to read/review the policies and email any feedback.
Policies for Review
Policy Review Feedback Form (PDF)
Immunisation and Exclusion
It is the policy of the centre that all children, except those with medical conditions prohibiting it, must be immunised according to the Government Immunisation schedule. Up-to-date immunisation records or a doctor's letter stating the reason for non-immunisation must be shown to the director when enrolling at the centre. If parents refuse to comply with the director’s requests to show that their child's immunisation is up to date, the child will be excluded from the centre. If a family has difficulty in obtaining evidence of immunisation, or if it is not possible to obtain evidence, a statutory declaration that the child is fully immunised must be obtained. Please be aware if your child is not immunised they will be excluded in the event of any outbreak of an infectious disease.
Parent Involvement
We recognise parents as the primary educators and caregivers of their children. Our educators encourage parents to spend time in the centre to maintain positive relationships and open communication channels to ensure that children’s needs are met. We aim to work in partnership with families to achieve continuity of care for the children in our care. These partnerships are characterised by warmth, respect and positive friendly interactions. Our centre has an ‘open-door policy’ and parents are welcome to call us at anytime or visit their child during the day. If visits during the day cause your child to become distressed when you leave, the educator or director will speak to you and advise you other methods of checking on your child and being involved. Parents are asked to give feedback on policies and procedures throughout the year and feedback or ideas for our programs are welcomed. Please feel free to speak to your child’s educator about the program of experiences planned for your child and any suggestions will be incorporated into the program.
Pram Storage
If you are catching public transport, we have facilities to safely store your prams. Please speak to the staff to assist you.
Monthly happenings
Calendar Of Events
Security
Our centre provides a safe and secure environment for your child. Our premises are monitored by 24 hour security cameras and our entrance is secured throughout the day. All parents must be admitted by staff, utilising the intercom located at the front entrance. Staff will ascertain the validity of each visitor before allowing access and identification of visitors must be shown to staff. All visitors must sign in and out of the premises.
Accreditation
Our centre is registered with the National Childcare Accreditation Council who monitors the Child Care Quality Assurance (CCQA) process. The broad objective of the CCQA systems is to ensure that children in care have stimulating, positive experiences and interactions that nurture all aspects of their development. The CCQA systems do this by defining quality child care, providing a way to measure the quality of care provided by the service and identifying areas for ongoing quality improvement.
LINKS
http://www.ncac.gov.au/site_help/acrobat.html
CCQA is linked to Child Care Benefit payments received by services on behalf of the parents of children in their care. Continued Child Care Benefit approval for services involves the service's compliance with the requirements of the CCQA five step process and its demonstrated commitment to maintaining a satisfactory standard of quality child care, including continuing improvement to the standard of care in accordance with the Quality Areas and Principles set out in the relevant Quality Practices Guide.
NCAC may report services that either fail to comply with or make satisfactory progress through CCQA to the Australian Government department responsible for administering Child Care Benefit.
http://www.ncac.gov.au"www.ncac.gov.au
Newsletter
Download the News Letter
Parent Handbook
Download the Parent Handbook
Parent topics
Separation anxiety
All children need a chance to settle in. They all react to situations in different ways. This may be an equally difficult time for parents. We have an orientation process which involved parents and their child spending time at the centre in the child’s room. This is done over several 1 hour visits. Parents are encouraged to spend time with their children at the centre then build up to leaving them alone for the hour.
Please don’t hesitate to call educators at any time if you are concerned. It is important that you say goodbye to your child, relax and show confidence and your child will feel more at ease. It can be very distressing to a child if he/she does not understand where the parent is, or does not realise they are gone. Disappearing without warning and lingering after goodbyes can confuse your child and result in them being less willing to accept you’re leaving tomorrow or the next time. Please call the centre as many times as you need throughout the day, and out educators will contact you to update you on your child’s progress throughout the day.
