About
“Family. Where life begins and love never ends.”
Kookaburra Korner is a community-based, non-profit centre with deep-seated roots in the local community surrounding us.
Being a community-based centre, we can focus on providing the best education and care possible. All profits are retained in our Centre for new resources, equipment, staff development and building upgrades. We are able to attract and retain high-quality educators, provide high-quality learning and play facilities, and not focus on returning a profit to investors. We have a high employee retention rate, reflected within our team of experienced and dedicated long-standing staff. Our educators are highly motivated and dedicated to providing the highest quality care and education to children and families within our community and we are supported with a significantly higher child-to-educator ratio with higher levels of qualified staff than recommended.
We are a 51-place centre with three rooms, with each room having its own playground specifically catering to the developmental needs of the age group. Our playgrounds have been designed with a natural aesthetic and provide a variety of different surfaces and elements for the children to explore.
OUR
An environment that is an extension of the home. A belief that if our environment works for you and your family, it translates into a better life.
OUR
To provide a loving home away from home with an emphasis on reciprocal relationships with families establishing a warm, safe friendly environment that will encourage children to learn, grow, and reach their fullest potential.
We recognize that children are parts of families and engage those families as partners.
OUR
Kookaburra Korner’s unique philosophy recognises the benefits of providing a holistic learning experience for our children in a caring, enriching environment supported by skilled, knowledgeable and passionate Educators who value families and the community. Our philosophy is underpinned by our view that we are an extension of the home environment and a safe place for children and their families, with research suggesting that the provision of a secure environment provides the optimal space for effective learning to occur.
We achieve this through:
Intrinsically involving families in all aspects of our culture
Our belief is that families are the first and most important educators of our children and as such our centre aims to work closely in partnership with families. Working in partnership with families improves relationships within the centre, strengthens bonds, and increases the child’s ability to learn most effectively.
The family is valued, and their diverse backgrounds are accepted, empowered, challenged, and reflected through adopting an anti-bias approach to our program.
Highlighting the importance of play, especially risky play
Promoting a vision of children as pivotal decision-makers in their learning journey through our play-based approach and responsive practices, children are able to experience a world of security and inspiration, a place to dream, to be, to belong, and to become.
Through respecting their right to play, and to engage in risky play in a safe learning environment and providing opportunities to participate in risky and challenging play we provide opportunities for the development of important life skills learnings such as making choices, problem-solving, measured risk-taking and navigating their way socially and emotionally in a group situation. Skills will be important right throughout their lives.
Creating a sustainable environment for our future
We are committed to creating an environment that ensures a sustainable future for our children and practices are embedded in the children’s daily routine and day-to-day activities. We are committed to teaching children to care for and respect the land of the local Indigenous people and to love all the beauty and freedom it has to offer.
The sustainability program aims to create a culture that respects and protects our local natural environment by reconnecting our children and community to nature and providing them with the knowledge and skills to reduce our ecological footprint.
Mindfulness as part of our every day practice
Our belief is that the earlier we can teach the children the core fundamentals of mindfulness to combat stress and worry the better chance they will have to thrive and succeed in daily life.
Mindfulness is a purposeful way of focusing and connecting to what is happening around us. As educators, we feel that there is an absolute need to improve the mental health and well-being of children. This approach to paying attention improves all areas of our lives by strengthening our emotional balance so we feel at ease, connected to others and the world around us, and empowered to be ourselves. Mindful awareness also nourishes our capacity for kindness, caring, and empathy for others. We can be mindful in many ways; in our listening, seeing, feeling, and communicating with others.
Being culturally inclusive
We believe in the importance of promoting quality learning environments for children that are culturally appropriate. Our aim is to support the unique and individualised values, strengths, and potential of each child and their family. We understand that families are the child’s first and most important teachers and as such feel it is vital that we provide a program that reflects each family’s cultural and social values.
Acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land on which we learn and play, the Wonnarua people, and understand the importance of creating an awareness of the history of our land and its people for the children in our care
OUR HISTORY
Did you know?
Kookaburra Korner Early Education Centre Incorporated is a non-profit community-based centre that officially opened in February 1987. The building plans and construction were supervised by Maitland City Council and funded by the Department of Health and Family Services (now known as the Department of Family and Community Services). After initial guidance by the Council, the responsibility of management was handed over to Kookaburra Korner Parent Management Committee. The Centre operates under licensing regulations known as Education & Care Services National Laws & Regulation 2010.
During its years of operation, the Centre has provided affordable quality education and child development. The service places an emphasis on delivering a high quality service to all families. We want to create a positive impact in children’s lives and want to be supportive not only of our enrolled families and their extended family members but also that of our local community. We provide a home-like environment for our families, whilst best meeting their educational needs, and the needs of their children.
1994 saw the change of name to Kookaburra Korner Early Education Centre Incorporated, which has enabled the community and families to recognise the service as that of an Early Learning Educational Environment.
1998 was again another year of change, with the extension to the existing building allowing our service to operate with three different rooms and three separate playgrounds. This allowed the Centre to cater for Possum (0-2 years), Koala (2-3 1/2 years) and Wombats (3-6 years) children in more age-appropriate environments. This enabled the Centre to increase licensed positions from 40 children to 51 children per day.
2014/2015 saw another year of change as we began the project of renovating our aging playgrounds into Natural play spaces. The positive effects of exposure to the natural environment include improved cognitive functioning (including increased concentration, greater attention capacities, and higher academic performance), better motor coordination, reduced stress levels, increased social interaction with adults and other children, and improved social skills.
Play is a vital part of childhood and growing up. Children learn through play to develop social physical and emotional skills. Providing children with an outdoor learning environment that incorporates quiet, natural creative activity and stimulates play will allow children to learn whilst using their imagination. By inviting a child to use their initiative and explore possibilities we provide them with the best opportunities to learn. Natural spaces create opportunities for children to experience both risk and challenge and can also be a safe place for children to explore.
This brings us to the present time. With our roots firmly embedded in our community we are fortunate enough to experience the enrolment of children of the children we have previously cared for here at Kookaburra Korner. Even more remarkable is the retention of staff which has seen our educators reminiscing with the families about their memories as children here in care at Kookaburra Korner and while inevitably anxious as first-time parents feel a sense of ease and familiarity when leaving their own children in care for the first time. As a further testament to our belief in the importance of creating genuine meaningful relationships with our families and the community, our current educators include former children who attended Kookaburra Korner as well as parents of former children who have gone on to study and now work here as Educators.
With our emphasis still firmly on maintaining community relationships, we have worked closely with our local community to continue to improve our learning environments. Jakoeb Watson, a very talented local Aboriginal artist worked closely with us to give our building a fresh new look with some fantastic murals. Recent grants received through Hunter water also allowed us to continue to improve our efforts to become more environmentally sustainable through the installation of water pumps connected to our water tanks to water our gardens and plants.