Choosing a childcare centre is one of the biggest decisions a family makes, and it usually starts with a single tour. In the space of an hour, you’re trying to work out whether a centre will care for your child the way you would yourself.
The good news is you don’t have to go in guessing. Childcare services across Australia are reviewed against a national set of standards, looking at everything from how children are supervised to how genuinely they’re known by their educators.
Our Mini Masterminds Box Hill Childcare Centre recently completed this process, and was rated Meeting the National Quality Standard, the national benchmark for quality across Australian education and care services.
Here are examples of what the assessors looked for during their visit to our centre, that you should be looking for too, so you can have peace of mind knowing that you are choosing the right place for your child:
Every child learns differently, so a good program should feel like it’s actually built around that, rather than following a template. At Mini Masterminds, this means age-appropriate practices at every stage, from nursery and toddler rooms through to preschool, alongside extras like sport, cooking and languages along the way.
On a tour, it’s worth asking how the centre supports children who learn a little differently. A centre that’s genuinely built around individual children should be able to tell you exactly how, not just reassure you that they do.
This is something Mini Masterminds Box Hill’s most recent review picked up on too, stating that “educators using children’s own interests, strengths and goals to guide learning, with children’s voices showing up clearly throughout the program”.
Safety is usually the first thing on your mind when it comes to the care of your little one. As you walk through our Mini Masterminds Centre, you should be able to notice things like soft play areas, CCTV cameras, educators in every classroom and space caring for the children, safety signs and processes in place for any emergency.
Our educators at our Box Hill childcare centre were commended for exactly this kind of everyday care, steady supervision and calm, well-practised routines for handling anything unexpected.
A good environment should be designed around how children and educators use the space every day. Spend real time outside on your tour, rather than just doing a quick walk-through.
Things to look out for include:
During your tour, you’ll meet your Centre Director, and other educators along the way. Take some time to get to know them, observe how they interact with the children, and if your little one is on the tour with you, how they interact with them too.
Watch how educators talk to children during your tour, for example, do they crouch down to the children’s level and use their name?
It’s the kind of thing that came through clearly at Box Hill too, with children described as “feeling secure, confident and included, and genuinely able to build relationships with the people around them”, exactly the sense you’re trying to pick up on during a tour.
Mini Masterminds Box Hill’s Area Manager, Sarah, supported the team through their recent review. “We can clearly see how the programs reflect what our educators do every day, how they really know each child and build genuine relationships with families,” she said.
Your relationship with a centre should extend beyond drop-off and pick-up. Ask how the centre communicates day to day; standard practice now is a parent portal app, such as OWNA, which is what we use at Mini Masterminds. It’s also worth asking how they support a child settling in during their first few weeks, and later, transitioning to school.
Beyond this, check whether centres host events families can be part of, such as Mother’s Day and Father’s Day breakfasts, graduations and other cultural celebrations. At our Mini Masterminds centres, we keep a central calendar of upcoming events in the foyer so families always know what’s coming up.
The best way to know a centre is the right fit for your family, is to come and see it in person, walk through the rooms, meet the team, and ask the questions that matter to you.
We’re incredibly proud of our Mini Masterminds Box Hill team and this latest milestone.
If you’re looking for an early learning centre in Box Hill, we’d love to welcome you to our Centre.
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