Long Daycare Centre

 

Billabong Community Early Learning Centre is a not for profit organisation that is community based and has been in operation since 1985.

 

The running of the Centre is overseen by a Parent Committee. In line with its constitution, the Committee assists the Centre Manager in key decision making and governance to enable the smooth functioning of the centre.

 

The centre is open from 7.00a.m. to 6.00p.m Monday to Friday for 51 weeks of the year and is closed during public holidays as well as for the Christmas and New Year break.

 

This centre is licensed for 47 children at any one time and has 3 rooms for 3 age groups, namely: Joey`s Room (0-2 years), Possum`s Room (2-3 years) and the Wombat`s Room (3-5 years).

 

The Joey, Possum and Wombat rooms are licensed for each day 12, 15 and 20 children respectively. The Joey and Possum and Wombat rooms have educators that are above the ratios recommended by National Standards. This strategic decision was to ensure greater care and attention for the children in these age groups. 

 

We have 2 Early Childhood Teachers and an Educational Leader in our centre that coordinate and work towards enhancing the curriculum for the Centre.

 

Both our outdoor and indoor spaces are designed to engage each child's developmental progress and are purpose built for the Centre. Our educators utilise both built and natural environments to design stimulating activities that encourage independent and group play.

 

Billabong`s Education Programs and Practice

As a result of the national standardisation initiative, the educators now follow the new Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) to design and implement educational programs for each room. In addition, there are multicultural as well as environment based educational experiences chalked out for the week to broaden the knowledge and understanding of our little ones about their surrounding world. Furthermore, enhancing the children's developmental exposure, we have incorporated involvement from the community such as the Police, Farmyard on Wheels as well as Music and Movement incursions to broaden and enrich the learning environment for the children.

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Community Engagement:

 Billabong participates in community events such as Keep Australia Clean Day, Biggest Morning Tea for Cancer Council, Harmony Day, National Reconciliation week, Plastic free July etc. Besides this, the children actively participate in helping local communities such as Manna Inc, Connect Inc, Nappy Collective, recycling batteries, Essentials for women, Constable Care Safety Foundation etc. We hope to create in our children a sense of empathy towards the less fortunate.

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Service Management and Performance

80% of our Educators are Qualified Diploma holders in Children`s services with the remaining few working towards their Diploma. All our Educators are Asthma, Anaphylactic and First Aid Trained. Besides having previous professional experience and qualifications, our educators have a valid Working With Children Check card. Our educators undergo performance reviews to ensure the delivery of high quality service.

 

In line with our learning organisation ethos, our staff go for in-service trainings throughout the year and actively share their knowledge with other staff, parents and children.

 

As with all licensed childcare centres, Billabong is subjected to the national benchmark outlined in the National Quality Standards and we were assessed in December 2014 by the Australian Children's Education & Care Quality Authority. We are happy to announce that we have secured a `Meeting With National Quality Standards`. Adjunct quality controls also include rigorous Health & Safety as well as Food Safety Program audits.

 

Furthermore, Billabong undergoes continuous monitoring of its services by implementing Quality Improvement Programs as well as by carrying out information gathering assessments such as the Parent Satisfaction Survey and Exit Surveys.

 

Our Beliefs

We believe that children learn best when they are comfortable in their environment, with people they know and trust as well as when they are given choices during activities. We strive to work towards this in partnership with our children and their families on a daily basis and are very happy with the positive effect it has on the children.