Guardian Childcare & Education Coorparoo

As a parent of children who have attended Guardian Coorparoo for the past 4 years, just wanted to add a recent review with my thoughts about the centre. There is an amazing group of caring Educators who work here and the work they do is hard. During and post-COVID the centre has been working to recover from the mass changes brought about through the impact of visa changes and burnout associated with working in a frontline environment over the past few years. Thankfully, a core of dedicated team members has led the charge to welcome new team members and families to the centre. I really like the size of this centre as it's smaller than many of the newer centres in the area. It has only 7 rooms with a good amount of space in each and importantly, a natural outdoor area with a large shady tree for the Summer. A good size sandpit, rock garden and raised garden beds that facilitate the kids learning about veggie growing (though right at this second, they are being re-grown). Another highlight of the outdoor area are the chickens, eggs for the kids to find and lessons about pet care, cleanliness, etc are part of the morning routine. The latest roster facilitating regular morning shift team members is aiding to comfort kids when drop offs are a bit stressful – this is something I appreciate. We’re in the Junior Kindy Room currently and with the prior Google review of this room, I wanted to counter it for new families investigating the centre. 1. Eating outdoors – this is a preference when possible and of course, meals are taken inside when necessary. My son attended a C&K and Guardian Coorparoo for Kindy in 2023 and both centres made an effort to enjoy outdoor mealtimes whenever possible. 2. Children are monitored for sunscreen and encouraged to build skills to self-apply in the older rooms. This supported autonomy is something I’ve seen in both centres I’ve attended, and is important skill building as they move towards Kindy and Prep. My children have never come home sunburnt, so I assume whatever they are doing is working. 3. In Summer I’ve witnessed the team remind the kids periodically to rush to the water trolleys and have a drink of water. On the hottest days, we’ve had notices to send the kids with togs so that waterplay can be facilitated. While the indoor areas are good, there’s no denying the importance of daily outdoor play, discovering bugs, negotiating turns on the bikes, playing in the sandpit, etc. 4. My daughter is a picky eater at home and at school. The team have engaged with me regularly to work through the options and help encourage her to eat more lunch. Sometimes she flat out refuses to eat lunch, despite everyone else in the class chomping down on what’s been provided. They make sure she has big morning teas and offer her extra afternoon tea. If she was starving, she would eat. 5. The centre is a mix of cultures and I appreciate the cultural diversity my kids have come to appreciate. Celebrations of Lunar New Year, learning Spanish, exploring the heritage of the Educators and classmates, etc. My son is so proud that he can count in Spanish thanks to native speakers integrating their language skills into classroom activities and learning outcomes. My daughter is now coming home saying ‘bonjourno’ (Italian) with a cheeky grin. 6. Finally, ‘early learning’ is such a funny term for 3–4-year-olds, even 4–5-year-olds. The industry used to be called ‘play group’ then ‘day care’ and now ‘early learning’ but ultimately I believe our kids benefit from most is the ability to play with other children, negotiate social situations, be imaginative, creative and cared for. Personally, I’ve felt validated whenever I’ve provided feedback and I’ve benefited from ongoing engagement whenever I’ve requested additional support for my kids. There is always room for improvement and the needs of the kids are ever evolving. There are star performers in every room.