What is Family Day Care?
About Five Star Family Day Care
Five Star Family Day Care is a community-based not-for-profit Family Day Care Service. We have been operating for over 30 years.
Five Star Family Day Care is committed to ensuring that your children receive the best possible care in a safe, nurturing environment. Our Five Star educators provide children with personalised education and care in safe, home environments – a positive alternative to traditional centre-based care.
Give Your Child A Five Star Learning Advantage
Here at Five Star Family Day Care, we believe there are five core values at the heart of quality Family Day Care:
Nurturing home environment
Recognising the child as an individual
Enriched learning and education programs
Social interactions in a family group setting
Secure attachments with an educator of your choice
Our scheme is run by a management committee formed by parents, staff, educators and community members.
Five Star educators and families are linked through our coordination unit based in Metford. Our Coordination Unit consists of early childhood qualified staff.
Our Coordination Unit plays a pivotal role in managing and supporting Educators to provide their educational home-based child care service. We provide resources and training, ensuring the services operate within legislated guidelines.
Your children are given every opportunity to develop their personalities, social skills and value systems in a safe, family-oriented, educational and caring environment.
We recognise that each child has their own unique personality that requires individual attention and care. Based on small, safe home environments that encourage learning in a friendly, supportive culture, Five Star Family Day Care is committed to ensure that each and every child has an opportunity to shine!
We understand the educator’s role in helping your child to grow and learn. We facilitate individual learning experiences in play-based environments focusing on and extending children’s interests and development.
Our services philosophy
At Five Star FDC, we value and respect Early Childhood Education.
Everything we do, we do for our children and families.
We pride ourselves on our excellent reputation and the provision of a valued community service.
WE:
- Reflect on our histories
- Encourage new points of view
- Proactively practice open mindedness
- Respect our natural environment
- Work collaboratively with others
- Celebrate success often
Maitland FDC encourages relationships and partnerships built on trust and respect by encouraging different points of view and having a culture of openness and inclusion. The service is guided by the Early Childhood Australia (ECA) Code of Ethics in all aspects of service delivery.
The individual needs of children and their families are acknowledged and supported. The service embraces and respects the important role that parents play in the lives of their children.
Families contribute to their child’s learning experiences by sharing their knowledge and unique experiences with their educator and providing information relevant to their child’s time in care.
The role that the broader community plays in the lives of children is also valued. Connections are fostered between the service, other relevant service providers, community organisations and members of the local community to ensure that strong community ties continue to be developed and that children with additional needs are supported in participating in the Family Day Care program.
The service embraces the National Quality Framework (NQF) by supporting educators to provide an environment which fosters independence and self – reliance resulting in children with confident self – identities that enable them to reach their full potential. The NQF is embedded in all the practices of the scheme and is used as a tool to ensure there is a commitment to continuous improvement.
Consultation and feedback forms an integral part of the scheme planning process which invites input from all stakeholders. Families, educators and staff share their knowledge and experience by participating in the scheme management committee, consultative groups and working parties.
There is an ongoing commitment to professional learning by educators, staff, and committee members. Keeping knowledge and practices up to date and relevant and ensuring that respect and responsibility for the natural environment and awareness of sustainability are embedded in our practices.
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the traditional custodians of this country in which we work, learn and play.
It is acknowledged that we all come from a variety of diverse and unique backgrounds, skills bases and cultures. These differences are respected, supported and embraced, valuing the contribution of each individual. There is a focus on relationships and interactions within the care environment that sees these individual differences as having a highly relevant and significant role in children’s learning, which is reflected in the educational program.
