Meet the Team
Nicola
Centre Manager
Our philosophy at Silkwood Stars highlights the fact that “Every child matters” and we as a team of qualified, responsible and experienced educators practice this in our daily interactions and experiences provided for the children. The Silkwood Stars Community is small and long-lasting. I have been in Silkwood Stars ELC for nearly a decade, together with most of my team. Our centre truly provides a home away from home where every educator knows all the children and the families.
I have been in the field of education for the past 19 years beginning in primary school, then in secondary and finally educating younger children in their early years. I hold a post-graduate Diploma in Education, an Advanced Diploma in Children’s Services, Certificate in mandatory Child Protection and First Aid.
I enjoy working with children of all age groups and facilitating their learning outcomes with a variety of interactive, planned, spontaneous or creative experiences. I truly believe that all children have the ability to learn from birth and promote educators to engage and encourage them to be the best they could be.
I manage a diverse team of experienced and bi-lingual educators who are committed to caring for and educating children. We follow the Victorian Early Years Development Framework (VEYDF) incorporating intentional teaching methods inspired by Maria Montessori. The educators plan both indoor and outdoor play-based experiences for every child considering the child’s interests and abilities. Each learning environment (room) has a monthly and weekly curriculum which is available for families to view on Educa (a secure online platform) and in the room.
We acknowledge that you as a parent want to be as involved with your child’s development and education. Educa provides information about Special events/Open days at the Centre, important messages to parents, the child’s digital portfolio which includes learning stories, milestones and other important information about your little one such as routines daily. This digital platform provides you with real-time information about your child that you can use for extended conversations with them at home or provide us with information to extend the child’s learning at the Centre.
We always welcome the human interaction and encourage you to chat with our approachable educators about your child’s learning and development. We also have more formal parent/teacher meetings to discuss your child’s learning.
During the year we organise extra learning incursions at no extra cost to families such as visits from the local library each term, language programs, an egg hatching program for Easter, road safety programs, safety near water and many more. Our team encourages children to take an interest in gardening in our mini-orchard and veggie patch.
Our Service celebrates special events such as Australia Day, Luna New Year, Harmony Day, Easter, NAIDOC week, Science week, Book week, Cup day mini-races, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Multi-cultural Day, Kinder graduation and Christmas concert and party to mention a few.
We are a close community at Silkwood Stars and we warmly welcome you to that experience.
