Our Philosophy

Advocacy

At Maryland Care & Early Education Centre,  we value educators and teachers as early childhood professionals and acknowledge each individuals’ skills, knowledge and experience. We promote an environment that encourages professional inquiry and learning. We educate our families and community on the importance of our role as early childhood professionals and turn them in the right direction when they are seeking further support and information.

We advocate for the rights of every child to ensure they are safe, healthy and treated equitably. Our educators and teachers are a diverse group of experienced and motivated staff. Its inspiring to be part of a team like this, where each member has their own specific attributes and bring unique skills to the service. Our staff build such strong rapports with the children, which means they get to know each child’s interests, strengthens and needs very well. As a parent of children who have attended Maryland Care and Early Education, and as a staff member, I’m proud to be associated with the service.

- Brendan, Early Childhood Educator of 20 years

Strive

As a service Maryland Care and Early Education Centre strive for excellence to be leaders in our sector.

We are forever evolving and critically reflecting on how we can improve our practices, quality of care and educational program We set high expectations to achieve the best outcomes to stand out from the rest.

Imagine

We believe children learn best through play-based learning which allows them to create, discover, improvise and imagine. We provide open-ended materials that allow children to use their imagination and exploration without any specific goals and endless possibilities.

Connection

We believe children come first, building secure learning relationships with each individual child that furthers their learning, development, and wellbeing.

We acknowledge the importance of relationships with families, working together to support learning, development, and wellbeing. We encourage families to be involved in the service in a way that they feel comfortable and secure.

We value the importance of being part of the wider community liaising with other professionals, utilising resources and exploring the local neighborhood.

We recognise, acknowledge, and celebrate diversity whilst, respecting values, beliefs providing a cultural safe environment for our families and educators.

“Both of my kids attend, and they love it here, great staff, quality teaching and a trusting community going above and beyond for the kids and families” -Bernadette

Unique

Maryland Care & Early Education Centre is a small boutique service where children engage in mixed age play allowing for peer teaching and learning.

We believe there is no such thing as bad weather, promoting children to play in the heat, cold and rain allowing them to explore a range of different elements in their environment as well as learning to regulate their own body temperature.

We empower children to engage in risky play experiences, allowing them to explore their own limits, boundaries, and resilience.

We promote place-based pedagogy by taking children on adventures to the reserve that enables them to connect to Country and explore our natural surroundings whilst gathering on Awabakal Land.

We believe all children are unique individuals who are respected and deemed competent learners.

“There is always fun stuff and hard stuff to play” – Zara aged 5 years