St Marina Early Learning Centre

Our centre chef prepares and cooks healthy and nutritious meals daily, catering to the unique dietary requirements of every child. We believe that by encouraging active participation (such as growing their own fruit and vegetables, preparing, and finally cooking!) children learn to appreciate and understand the importance of healthy eating. 

Our centre offers children nutrient-rich, unprocessed, and seasonal whole foods – created to delight the fussiest eaters.

Hi my name is Mary, and I am the Centre Manager here at St Marina Early Learning. I began my career in early childhood education and care in 2012 and started working at St Marina Early Learning Centre in 2012. I hold a Bachelor of Early Childhood and my experience in early education began at a primary school back in 2009, then I moved into Childcare in 2012. I have enjoyed this age group and it is my passion to lay the foundations of early education for future generations. 

I have always enjoyed the younger grades in primary school, once I was offered a position to work with 3-4-year old’s at my centre, I was thrilled to be working with such motivated and enthusiastic children. After a year and half I was offered the position to move into the office but still be the educational leader, this supported my dreams to continue to have a strong influence in the program and stay in touch with children daily. What I love the most is watching the potential of children grow and blossom, I love to demonstrate to educators and the children’s families how much we need to continue to believe and support children’s dreams. 

Children from an early age have a brain that absorbs like a sponge, to provide children with the best potential in life we need to ensure we don’t hinder this and take advantage of the setting of early childhood centres. We meet a lot of children’s needs, we ensure they are school ready, independent, develop life skills, healthy habits, developmental milestones are being met, and ensure that their emotional, cognitive and social cups are being filled. In a childhood setting it puts children in a safe and inviting learning environment to ensure children are being stimulated, interactive with one another and learning about the world around them. 

I have been with the same team since I began working at the centre, over 8 years ago. We are a close net group of educators who work together well as a dedicated and enthusiastic team. We are all mothers and second mothers to our children in the centre, I can depend on them for anything. They teach both my children and me. I give them lots of credit for my girls growing into the young ladies they are today.  

My team are passionate about early education, always striving for more and care a lot about their families. This is a great feature to work with because they understand the importance of relationships with families for children’s learning and development. My team are made up of a multicultural team that meet the needs of our area, this has been a positive in assisting with bilingual children, implementing cultural competence and understanding ones culture and traditions. 

My team and I ensure the safety and wellbeing of children are always meeting the standards by practicing what is best for the child. Children always come first at our centre, children are taught healthy and hygienic habits to continue until schooling, and our educators demonstrate through good role modeling. My child protection statement is to ensure every child is respected and are always a priority. Children don’t choose to be here, so we need to adjust our lives to be there for them! 

We support families in any which way we can, for example we had a family go through a major life changing event and we supported them by supporting them with dinners and carefree afternoons with packed lunches. We have occasional breakfast and snacks prepared for families to take on their way to a busy day. We will go the extra mile to ensure our children and their families are well looked after, even when they are not in our care. 

I learnt over the years that families are the corner stone to children’s development and working collaboratively with them to ensure children’s potentials are met. In saying this my aim as the centre manager is to build a relationship with families from orientation and ask them simple questions such as “what is your goal for your child this year?” and “what do you aim to gain from your child’s experience in our centre”. This gives me the best insight in guiding families and their child into a bright future and demonstrate strong relationships and respect to families wishes. 

I completely understand the enrolment of your child into a new centre can be hard and confusing, when families come in for a tour, I ask them more about the child and their goals for their child. I offer ample amount of time for questions, offer my email, and provide them with more about our centre. I also provide families with a step by step guide about enrolment process, first day and what to bring in for their first day. I also check in with families and assist with filling out all forms needed so that all their questions are answered and ease their transition to enrolment for the best experience.  

At St Marina Early Learning Centre we pride ourselves on taking an interest in your child’s curiosity as our teaching approach is programmed around interest based learning. This enables your child to develop self-identity skill in preparation for schooling. Come on by and explore a little!