Welcome to Garden Play Family Day Care Service

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About Us

We 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, we provide quality guidance and direct assistance to registered Educators. Our service fees are kept as low as possible to ensure our Educators reap the rewards of what they create, build and work hard for.

We are available to assist parents throughout their enrolment with Garden Play, we whole-heartedly want children to transition into FDC smoothly and be their happy natural selves whilst in care.

As the Director and Nominated Supervisor of Garden Play, and as a former primary and early years school teacher, FDC Educator and FDC Coordinator, I feel I can provide valuable guidance to Educators that only comes from experience in the role. I can also personally relate to the anxieties felt by a parent trying to find the right Educator for their child.

For both Educators and parents we help you to see through the muddle, guiding you to what information you need to move forward.

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Become an Educator

At Garden Play FDC Service we pride ourselves on the quality of our Educators. The training and registration process of Educators is very thought out and ensures Educators are prepared and confident to commence operating their FDC.

If you would like our Service to consider you as a prospective Educator, please contact our office to discuss our requirements and organise a visit. We look forward to meeting you. Please keep in mind, we have a certain criteria of what we expect from our Educators, therefore your registration with our Service is not guaranteed. The following is the initial mandatory requirements we expect from a prospective Educator.

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 be willing to obtain public liability insurance (approximately $450 annually)
Must maintain a current Working with Children Check card.
Must be willing to obtain a police check (no older than six months) for themselves and for the occupants of the home that are over 18 years old
Must be willing to register as a Food Business with their local council and meet council registration requirements.

What you get from Garden Play FDC Service on setup and throughout the duration of your registration:

Initial meetings and limitless phone call support to help you to setup your FDC and throughout registration
Training sessions 1,2 & 3
Training resource documents (administration folder, hard copy of the policies and procedures, education resource folder, display file of all forms we use, numerous paper based and electronic resources to run your business and to document learning, plus a one year learning program)
Guidance on setting up your environment
Guidance to ensure you meet all the Education and Care Services National Regulations
Insurance advice
Access to our toy library
On-going support and mentoring
Assistance to develop and review your Quality Improvement Plan (QIP)
We handle all CCS claiming and parent payments
Support for families
Networking and professional development opportunities

Please call our office on (08) 6201 6980 to discuss further. We offer a personalised in-depth training process, providing you with all of the administration documents and practical knowledge you will need to confidently run your FDC to a high standard.

We can provide training outside office hours in order to meet your availability.

Remember there is no annual fee! No percentage of your income!

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.

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Families

Family day care can offer families the personalised and flexible care that they need. As you will be aware just like all families, all Family Day Cares are different. But each follow and abide by the Education and Care Service Services National Law and Regulations, and are guided by the National Quality Framework. Every Educator registered with Garden Play is visited regularly to ensure compliance and best practice. At Garden Play we work to ensure that all children are kept safe and feel happy in their FDC environment.

We can help you to find the Educator that best suits your child and your family. Finding and choosing someone to care for your most precious little one can be a difficult process. Contact our office and we can email you out a guide on what to look for in an Educator, the right questions to ask and tips on how to settle your child into care. Call us on (08) 6201 6980.

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.

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 2020-2021 financial year, CCS is capped at $11.30 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.

Select here our Parent Information Booklet

Transitioning into FDC Tips