Little Darlings was my dream and together my sister and I made it a reality!! With her business background and my knowledge in teaching and early childhood education we began Little Darlings.
I have completed my Degree in Bachelor of Teaching - birth to 8 years as well as a Diploma in Child Care.As well as this I am constantly expanding my knowledge through seminars and workshops as I believe there is always room for improvement.
My sister has a Degree in Business and has successfully run and started several businesses of her own and now all our effort and passion is in our family business Little Darlings.
My sister and I started out on this venture with our father in trying to find the right property and location as we are a close family and believe very highly in helping each other.
Our mother Mary Mitropoulos is also part of the centre by taking control of the cooking and ensuring all our Little Darlings eat only the best.My mum believes in home cooked meals so there is nothing processed at Little Darlings Child Care Centre.
As a family each having our specific roles to do we opened Little Darlings Child Care Centre on 19 May 2003.In May 2006 we expanded our dream and began Little Darlings II.
OUR MOTTO
CARE RESPECT EDUCATION AN EXTENSION OF THE HOME
I believe success and achieving goals is easy if you have a passion for what it is you believe in!
Little Darlings is our passion and therefore we provide a high standard of care and education in the children entrusted in us and nothing less.
Little Darlings Child Care Centre can be summarised by our motto CARE RESPECT EDUCATION AN EXTENSION OF THE HOME.
We put this motto into practise in our new, clean, warm and professional environment with quality staff that work to the highest standard.
To view our aims, statement, philosophy and structure please click on the links below.
PHILOSOPHY Reviewed annually
At Little Darlings Child Care Centre we believe in providing children with the highest quality of care allowing each and every child to reach their fullest potential, by enhancing all areas of growth and development, in a warm caring and home like environment.
We strive to do this through providing a highly positive environment where all members such as staff, children, families etc are made to feel welcome and are considered to share an important place within the centre regardless of gender, race, culture or religious belief.
Staff are encouraged to work as a team supporting each other with open communication, motivation and acquiring new skills through workshops / inservices. The experience gained will benefit children within their care.
Staff interactions with children aim to give high praise of efforts, encouragement to help develop children’s self confidence, self-esteem and independence.
We at Little Darlings Child Care Centre recognise children as unique individuals and aim to enhance all areas of development. Staff will therefore provide an individualised programme, which caters for children according to their age and stage of development.
The programme offers choice as well as a balance of structured / unstructured activities, outdoor / indoor experiences, quiet /noisy, music play, story time, multicultural, drama play and the list goes on. The programme promotes play as this emphasises learning through a process of exploring, problem solving, social interaction, role play, communicating, and most important listening to children which enables children to enhance skills I n areas such as their language, self help, cognitive, social interaction and fine / gross motor skills.
A reliable routine is put in place, which is provided in a home like environment that meets each and every child’s needs. Children will warm to a consistent and familiar service making them feel secure.
The development of strong relationships between staff and parents as well as parent involvement within the centre, maintains a high quality of care within the service. This enables children’s needs to be met more effectively, through the exchange of information about the child. This strong relationship between parents and staff facilitates teamwork and open communication which maintains consistent care from the home environment to the centre environment. The children feel safe and secure because of this.
Parents are encouraged to be involved within the centre in ways they feel comfortable. Whether it be taking part in the routine i.e. cooking a multicultural meal with the children or simply providing materials for art and craft.
Parents will be kept up to date and informed of their child’s day, centres policies and procedures or any changes regularly through meetings, newsletters and notice boards. The centres policies will be displayed for the parents view.
AIM - we at Little Darlings Child Care Centre recognise children as unique individuals and aim to enhance all areas of development.An individualised programme is provided which caters for children according to their age and stage of development and planning based on children's interests.
EXPLANATION - The programme is developed to meet the needs of children by taking into account all areas of development, this includes physical, social, emotional, self help, cognitive and language development.
This is achieved through regular observations and note taking on children by our qualified teachers.
Little Darlings Child Care Centre caters for ages 0 to 5 yrs of age therefore individualised programming is crucial and very necessary.
Therefore children are separated into learning environments with age appropriate programmes that are developing and challenging to the child.Our qualified teachers plan these programmes based on individual needs and age specific goals.
Little Darlings Child Care Centre has 4 separate learning environments with specific programmes for each environment.The learning environments include:
Nursery room for 0 - 2 yr olds
Toddler room for 2 - 3 yrs olds
Preschool room 1 for 3 - 4 yr olds
Preschool room 2 for 4-5 yr olds and includes school preparation
Little Darlings II Child Care Centre includes the following learning environments:
Toddlers - 2 groups of 10
Preschoolers - 2 groups of 10
Having separate programmes ensures that children are being exposed to learning and development that is suitable to them and at the same time have the opportunity to be challenged.
To achieve a successful learning environment we aim for children to reach their fullest potential.To achieve this we believe that having children placed in smaller groups with a higher staff to child ratio it allows for 1-1 attention to be achieved which ensures positive development for your child.
To view information on the programmes provided, child observations and development and half yearly and yearly development reports please click on the links below.
The making of Little Darlings had a vision behind it and that vision was to provide a high quality environment for children and at the same time a high standard of care.
This is how we came up with our motto CARE RESPECT EDUCATION AN EXTENSION OF THE HOME
We believe when children are entrusted in our care this is what they should be provided with - an extension of their home.We aim to do this by employing qualified and experienced staff, a high standard educational curriculum and a clean caring and warm environment.
Our belief is that the early years of children's lives are the most crucial as they are developing mentally, emotionally and socially.To assist their development it is crucial that the environment makes children feel secure and happy by having quality staff and an aesthetically pleasing environment that is welcoming to them.
Education is also important and needs to be individualised to suit children's needs and strengths, to meet these individual needs we have designed our centres to cater for age groups separately with age appropriate programmes that suit children's stage of development.
We believe in providing 1-1 attention to all children entrusted in us, in order to do this we have arranged for small groups with a higher staff ratio to concentrate the concept of a relaxed environment.
Our learning groups are as such in both of our centres:
Little Darlings Child Care Centre I
Nursery 0 - 2 yr olds - 10 children with 3 staff - dolphin room
Toddler room 2 - 3 yr olds - 16 children with 2 staff plus 3rd staff as an assistant - starfish group
Preschool room 3 - 4 yr olds - 12 children and 2 staff - joey group
Preschool room 4 - 5 yr olds - 10 children and 1 staff - kangaroo group
Little Darlings II Woolooware Rd Kindy
Toddlers 2 - 3 yr olds - 10 children with 2 staff - tadpole room
Toddlers 3 - 3.5 yr olds - 10 children with 1 staff - tadpole room
Preschool group 3.5 - 4 yr olds - 10 children with 1 staff - frog room
Preschool group 4 - 5 yr olds - 10 children with 1 staff - frog room
We put children first.
To view information on our nursery room, toddlers rooms, preschool groups, dining areas, outdoor environments and toileting and nappy change facilities, please click on the links below.
