MEET OUR EDUCATORS

(Hover over the pictures to see our baby photos!)

Renae Donovan

Renae Donovan

Director

Qualifications: Bachelor Teaching Early Childhood

Training: First Aid, Asthma and Anaphylaxis

I am focused on creating a nurturing, supportive and respectful environment for children, Educators and parents. The energy and enthusiasm of young children is what drew me to the industry and the knowledge that I can still make a huge difference in the lives of children and their families. This is what keeps me here. Working to empower families in their roles as parents is the greatest gift I have been given and it will always have a greater impact on their child’s lives than any Educator.

I believe in teamwork, high expectations, flexibility and a sense of humour is needed to create an attitude of inclusion, where everyone is involved and is willing to regularly examine and adjust the routines, language, practices and environment to meet the needs of the entire learning community (Children, Families and Educators).

Bree Thorn

Bree Thorn

Nominated Supervisor/Educational Leader/ECT

Qualifications: Bachelor of Education (Birth to 5 Years)

Training: First Aid, Asthma and Anaphylaxis

I believe that each child is an individual, I will value each child’s strengths and interests to provide opportunities for the children to explore, discover, create and use their imagination. I believe in maintaining a safe physical environment, where children can play freely with purpose and rest when needed. Our service promotes friendly and supportive relationships with our children, families and fellow Educators through conversations and other communicative systems.

Kim Strickland

Kim Strickland

Office Manager

Qualifications: Diploma in Business Administration, Certificate III Early Childhood Education and Care

Training: First Aid, Asthma and Anaphylaxis

I believe it is important to provide children with an opportunity to play in a number of settings and environments. Children have a right to explore their natural environment and experiment with all it has to offer. We need to be able to connect with children both individually and as a group in order to ensure we provide support for each child’s learning specific to their needs. It is the responsibility of an educator to model respect for others and demonstrate positive interactions. It is our job to build a safe and nurturing environment in order to create warm and welcoming relationships with children and families.

Kelsey James

Kelsey James

Office Manager

Qualifications: Study Certificate III Early Childhood Education and Care

Creating a nurturing and welcoming environment for children and their families, while supporting staff through effective HR practices, is crucial for the overall success and happiness of everyone involved. Our staff are the backbone of our organisation. I am passionate about fostering a supportive culture where staff feel valued, respected, and empowered to perform their best. This includes providing ongoing professional development opportunities, recognising achievements, and offering meaningful feedback.

Christine Farrelly

Christine Farrelly

Qualifications: Diploma Early Childhood Education and Care

Training: First Aid, Asthma and Anaphylaxis

My passion is to work with young children and their families to create a safe, secure, nurturing and educational environment. I believe in teaching children to interact in relation to others with care, empathy and respect. I will continue to support the children in their health, wellbeing and independence skills.’

Keli Howe

Keli Howe

Qualification: Diploma Early Childhood Education and Care

Training: First Aid, Asthma and Anaphylaxis

I strongly believe that all children are different and unique who need a secure, caring, nurturing environment to be able to mature emotionally, intellectually, physically and socially. I believe children learn through play by exploring their environments. I aim to provide each individual with the opportunities to initiate their own learning with open-ended experiences in which they have choice and responsibilities. I aim to maintain an environment where children, parents and families feel safe, secure, respected and supported, where ideas and input are valued and appreciated by being implemented into or program. The environments I provide each child are focused on by resourcing natural, calming, home-like environment materials, maintaining these spaces I aim to achieve a balanced tranquil experience for the children to engage in a happy healthy way.

Bayleigh Lindsay

Bayleigh Lindsay

Qualifications: Diploma Early Childhood Education and Care

Training: First Aid, Asthma and Anaphylaxis

I believe that each child is unique and independent individuals who are encouraged to explore and make memories in their environment. Childhood is a small window of time to learn, create, imagine and play at a pace which is right for each individual child. I value the needs of all children and strive to remain open to all voices, all possibilities explored and all potential fulfilled.

Brittany Peacock

Brittany Peacock

Qualification: Diploma Early Childhood Education and Care

Training: First Aid, Asthma and Anaphylaxis

As an Educator we are role models for the children we care for and I believe it is important for children to learn through play as well as experience challenging activities. I feel strongly about building relationships with children and their families to make them feel welcomed. I also implement and support engaging programs for the developmental areas achievable to children in the early years.

Maddison Wallace

Maddison Wallace

Qualifications: Diploma Early Childhood Education and Care

Training: First Aid, Asthma and Anaphylaxis

I believe that as an educator it is important to ensure you have educational and creative programs based on individual and group observations. It is important to communicate with parents, respecting their rights and opinions encouraging participation and involvement in the programs and provocations. I feel that children need assurance of being loved and cared for while they are enjoying their environment.

Lucy Stevens

Lucy Stevens

Qualifications: Diploma Early Childhood Education and Care

Training: First Aid, Asthma and Anaphylaxis

I believe as an educator children develop and learn holistically through play and exploration to become competent adults into the future. Therefore, I strive to provide a myriad of opportunities in the care and educational setting that evolve from the children’s needs, interests and cultures.

I believe they have a wide variety of influences within their early years stemming from their early educational opportunities, home lives, extended families and friends, and the community. I will strive to resource these experiences to enrich each child’s learning, firstly building strong relationships with them and families to promote their social and emotional wellbeing, that will support them into their schooling years and beyond with resilience and the confidence to master any challenges they may need to conquer.
Based on my beliefs, I promote childhood theorists like Reggio Emilia and the importance of play-based and child-led learning.
Kira Tiethof

Kira Tiethof

Qualifications: Diploma Early Childhood Education and Care

My vision is that all children get ample opportunities and a safe environment where they can learn and grow. Every child is curious and wants to explore and discover their world and surroundings. They have their own unique strengths and interests, which we, as educators, need to discover and understand to give the child the right opportunities to grow.

A big part of a child’s life, certainly in early childhood years, is play. Play stimulates the child’s development, which is why children should always have time for free play.It benefits a lot of developmental areas, for example, their imagination and social interaction with their peers. 

I believe the first important task of an educator is to build a relationship with a child. By knowing the child you know what guidance to give them. Together with other adults, who play a big part in the child’s life, the child will have full support and opportunities to have a healthy development.

Kennedy Lindsay

Kennedy Lindsay

Qualifications: Certificate III Early Childhood Education and Care, Trainee – Diploma Early Childhood Education and Care

Training: First Aid, Asthma and Anaphylaxis

I believe each child is an individual and deserves their individual needs to be met. Their interests are all different and I want to ensure each child has an experience they love doing each day. I believe that every child should feel safe and secure when they walk through those doors into our care. I want to create a calm, relaxing environment that they feel comfortable in.

Bradley Thorn

Bradley Thorn

Qualifications: Certificate III Early Childhood Education and Care

Training: First Aid, Asthma and Anaphylaxis

I believe that children create their own learning moments and as an educator we need to build off these moments to follow each individual child’s interests. I believe this is the best way to build and to help each child develop and learn. In my opinion risky play is amazing for children’s development and creates the most opportunity for learning whether it be helping build their resilience and persistence, awareness of the limits and capabilities of their own bodies, problem solving, confidence and independence, and balance and coordination whilst developing their gross motor skills.

Bronte Powick

Bronte Powick

Qualifications: Certificate III Early Childhood Education and Care, Trainee – Diploma Early Childhood Education and Care

Training: First Aid, Asthma and Anaphylaxis

Education is a major passion of mine in which I study both Early Childhood and High School teaching. I believe educators and teachers provide children with environments that allow them to feel nurtured, supported and safe and thus result in making a major difference on their lives as well as their families. My main focus is to foster learning opportunities that enable children to thrive as confident and capable learners. I strongly believe in play-based learning and believe children benefit greatly from using their imaginative and creative skills in a variety of different contexts including mathematics, literacy and STEM. Developing positive relationships with the children and their families is imperative to my role as an educator to curate learning opportunities that focus on them as an individual as well as them in group settings. It is important to me that children are treated as equals, to enrich their learning experiences within the service. 

 

Abby Pocock

Abby Pocock

Qualifications: Study Certificate III Early Childhood Education and Care

I believe that during this foundational step in a child’s learning journey, it is important to nurture individuality in a safe, friendly environment where every child is heard and seen. As an educator, my role is to assist in developing an environment where every child feels comfortable to be themselves and reach their full potential. I believe children should be able to have input into their own learning experiences so all experiences are engaging and suited to children participating. It is important that positive relationships with children and families are developed to build trust, comfort and a strong foundation for meeting the needs of all children and families.

Spencer Lindsay

Spencer Lindsay

Qualifications: Trainee – Certificate III Early Childhood Education and Care

Training: First Aid, Asthma and Anaphylaxis

I believe as an educator, my role is to create a safe and nurturing environment where every child feels valued and secure. I focus on developing engaging programs that cater to each child’s interests and needs, ensuring they learn through play and enjoy appropriate challenges. Building strong relationships with children and their families is important to me and I prioritise open communication with parents to involve them in the children’s day. As a role model, I aim to provide love, care and positive behaviour, ensuring every child feels welcomed and supported.

Casandra Anderson

Casandra Anderson

Qualifications: Trainee – Certificate III Early Childhood Education and Care

As an educator, I aim to provide a fun learning environment where children are excited to come to school each day. My goal is to create an environment where they feel safe to explore, initiate learning and feel free to express themselves through their imagination and creative skills. I seek to form close relationships with each child and their families. Understanding that each child is different and all have their own interests, thoughts, skills and abilities. 

Jayde Burgess

Jayde Burgess

Qualifications: Study – Certificate III Early Childhood Education and Care

Training: First Aid, Asthma and Anaphylaxis

 

I believe every child deserves a nurturing, safe, and stimulating environment to thrive physically, emotionally, socially, and intellectually. My goal is to create a warm, inclusive atmosphere that encourages exploration, creativity, and curiosity. By embracing respect, empathy, and patience, I aim to foster a sense of belonging and security for all children. Inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach, I view children as capable and full of potential. My role is to guide, support, and inspire them to be confident, independent, and compassionate individuals. By maintaining high expectations and a positive attitude, I hope to instill a lifelong love of learning and a sense of responsibility in each child.
Janayha Lafsky

Janayha Lafsky

Qualifications: Trainee – Certificate III Early Childhood Education and Care

I believe that as an educator I should provide all children with a safe and secure environment where they feel emotionally, physically and socially comfortable. Each child deserves to feel seen heard and connected to the environment and the people around them to help achieve their best outcomes in our learning experiences provided. I will create learning environments that encourage children to explore their creativity and spirit of inquiry to their-fore guide children and families during this critical step in their children’s learning journey. 

Chelsea Mckinnon

Chelsea Mckinnon

Qualifications: Trainee – Certificate III Early Childhood Education and Care

I believe children need a nurturing and safe environment to learn. As an educator, I aim to create that environment for all children. I believe that children learn best through play and exploration. I want to create an environment where children can learn and develop holistically and safely. All children have different interests and they should be able to explore those interests in different ways through opportunities provided by the service and its educators.