Kiddies on First Early Learning Child Care Centre

Kiddies on first is the most beautiful childcare environment which I would highly recommend to anyone. My son went there for 18 months and we only left as we moved to Melbourne. I haven’t been able to find anywhere even half as good in our new area. Stephanie and the team are caring and nurturing and generally seem happy and enjoy their jobs. They care for the kids as if they are their own. They are cleaned and changed after messy play or eating. Little changes in behaviour or physically are picked up on and reported to you. It is always relaxed and calm and all the kids seem happy. All staff have been there a long time and know each other well. There is a strong routine but also flexible to meet everyone’s needs. My son started to show signs of delay and this was picked up and supported really quickly. The environment is beautiful, big open spaces with lots of focus on the natural environment. Stephanie is very creative and there is lots of different crafts going on and using everyday objects in creative ways. They had a butterfly enclosure and watched them change from caterpillars to butterfly’s, hermit crabs, fish. Staff are very emotionally in tune with the kids needs making drop off really smooth. So many activities and learning opportunities everyday. So much singing, dancing and reading. The multi age model seemed strange to me at first but it works really well. The space is really big for the amount of children and staff ratio is high. It provides a really natural environment where little ones can learn from older ones and older ones can learn to be gentle and help with little ones. There is age appropriate learning happening so no one is missing out but children have freedom to experience a range of things. It also means the children know all the staff not just their room leader and there is no big change once a year when the room changes. I could not rate this place more highly, I think it is amazing what Stephanie has created. I still miss it everyday and the relaxed feeling I had knowing my son was being taken care of the same way he would be taken care of at home.