Welcome to Garden Play Family Day Care Service

APPROVED SERVICE - Accepting Registrations NOW

About Us

As a parent, FDC Educator and FDC Coordinator I truly believe in the value of family day care, the small individualised approach to caring for and educating infants and children. I appreciate the home setting as an environment that enables a softer and more gentle transition from a parent’s care. In these environments the care and approach to learning is adapted to meet each child’s needs.

Family day care facilitates a stronger relationship between Educator and child, which enables the child to feel secure and supported sooner, this is then the foundation for them to develop and learn.

At Garden Play Family Day Care Service, I will provide quality guidance and direct assistance regarding all areas of running your service at a reasonable charge. I don’t believe in large companies taking percentages of Educators income. Our service charge will be kept as low as possible to ensure our Educators reap the rewards of what they create, build and work hard for.

I believe it is essential for child care services to offer children the daily opportunity to explore the outdoors; using their senses to experience the changing seasons. Even the very young benefit from some outdoor time, we don’t expect Educators to have outdoor only services, however a healthy balance between indoor and outdoor time.

I felt compelled to setup my own service, stemming from my love of the industry and my passion for quality care of our youngest people. As I have been a school teacher and successfully ran my own family day care, I feel I can provide valuable guidance to Educators that only comes from experience in the role. I will help you to see through the muddle of various requirements and expectations. I understand the challenges of the role and understand what is important for Educators in belonging to a Service.

Recruitment of Educators

• Educators must be at least 21 years old or over.

• Educators must speak English to a conversational level, this is to ensure the Educator is prepared and has followed training provided to run their FDC.

• Educators must meet qualification requirements before proceeding any further with the application.  A family day care educator must have:

  • First Aid qualification (including CPR, anaphylaxis and emergency asthma management training)

  • At least a certificate III qualification in Early Childhood Education and Care or be actively working towards, at least an approved certificate III level education and care qualification.  

• Must have a house in which they plan to run the service from, they do not need to own this house, it can be a rental property (Landlord permission is required).

• Must have public liability insurance (approximately $450 annually)

• Must have a current Working with Children Check card.

• Must have a recent police check (no older than six months)

• Must also provide police checks for occupants of the home that are over 18 years old.

Once the prospective Educator has met these requirements and obtained these documents (or is happy to obtain these documents) and would like to proceed with the process, Service staff will meet with the prospective Educator to discuss their background and help them to get a better idea of what we expect from an Educator registered with Garden Play Family Day Care Service.

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There is no annual fee! No percentage of your income!

Contact us to find out more.

Garden Play Philosophy 

2020

Garden Play believes that a home setting is key to a child’s sense of belonging. It is an environment that enables a softer and more gentle transition from a parent’s care. Family day care facilitates a stronger relationship between Educator and child, which enables the child to feel secure and supported sooner. This sense of belonging is then the foundation for them to develop and learn. 

At Garden Play we believe the early years of a person’s life are critical to their adult being. As key people in a child’s life we believe it is imperative that Educators seek to connect and extend on ideas, thoughts, conversations and experiences with infants and children, at every opportunity. Like Bruner’s theory on constructivism, we believe that Educator organisation is imperative in assisting children to develop and process new information, through exploration, reflection and linking to what is already known. 

We believe, like Montessori, that environments where children belong should be aesthetically pleasing. We promote natural light filled spaces, artwork, literature, music, cultural artefacts and most importantly, a garden. We believe a garden is a place where children can exert their energy, squeal and shout with friends, build and experiment and sometimes get messy whilst experiencing play in a variety of forms. 

Although children today are born into a rapidly evolving technological world, these children still need to become adults with strong memories and an appreciation of embracing their natural world. We believe children and adults alike feel rejuvenated and emotionally reset once they’ve spent time outside, using their senses to absorb a natural space. Like the Reggio-Emilia philosophy, we believe children learn through experiences of touching, moving, listening and observing. We think Educators need to always consider child safety and protection from harsh weather conditions, however this should not restrict from daily outdoor time, which is fundamental to their development.

We value, respect and appreciate culturally and linguistically diverse Educators and families and the traditional owners of our land, the Mooro people and others in and around Perth. We believe all children, from all backgrounds be treated equally, be cared for and protected at all times. Each child should have the ability to develop, grow and have equally ambitious dreams for their future.

Families

Family day care can offer families the personalised and flexible care that they need. Family day care Educators each have their own operating hours, the majority are open between the standard hours of 7.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday.

Some Educators cater particularly for those needing care outside of regular hours, offering regular weekend or overnight care. In addition, Educators can be available for before and after school care, casual after hours care and vacation care. 

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As each Educator runs their own business, each one sets their own fee for care. Generally, Garden Play Educators can charge between $85.00 to $130.00 for a standard day of care, this is before Child Care Subsidy (CCS) is applied. For the 2019-2020 financial year, CCS is capped at $11.10 per hour for family day care. 

Upon enrolment Educators and Garden Play staff are available to guide families through the process of claiming for CCS, ensuring the enrolment and claiming process runs smoothly for your family.

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