About Us

Our Centre

Como Park Child Care and Kindergarten is run as a quality long day care service for families in the community who require care and education for their children aged between 6 weeks and 6 years of age. We provide a friendly, caring and stimulating environment for children and offer parents an opportunity to pursue their commitments confident in the knowledge that their children are safe and well cared for. The centre is open and families are invited to use the service between the hours of 6:30am and 6:30pm for 52 weeks per year, closed only public holidays. Como Park Child Care and Kindergarten is a 64 place centre.

Como Park runs as a multi-aging service with two communities for children: 0-2 year community and 3-5 years Kindergarten community. Our over 3’s community operates as a Government Funded Kindergarten for 3 and 4 year olds with our Early Childhood Teachers.

Our Communities for Children

At Como Park Childcare and Kindergarten we recognise every child has the ability to learn and develop at their own pace and our Early Childhood Educators understand that each child has a unique approach to learning. We have high expectations for each child’s learning and development and our educators provide opportunities for children to learn and develop through play and participation in the daily program.

Our vision of multi aging

Communities of children coming together to learn
More learning opportunities for children
Children as decision makers and independent learners
Exciting and flexible play spaces
Collaborative partnerships between educators and children
Children as positive role models

The benefits of having multi aging communities

Many children enjoy visiting a room another room, whether it is to visit a sibling, a friend, interest in an activity or just out of curiosity.
Multi aging will allows us to reduce waiting lists and offer more places on a daily basis.
Research suggests that children of different ages playing together can gain skills and can benefit from learning opportunities. It is an opportunity for beautiful relationships to be formed as older children role model and help, instruct and support younger children, while younger children see in older children leadership, helpfulness and sympathising roles.
Because of the mixed age group, the younger children benefit from the positive models of older children, often aspiring to their levels of capability. At the same time, the older children rise to the expectations of the younger children and teacher, being very responsible and having opportunities to lend and use their expertise.
We have observed in our indoor /outdoor program that when the children are able to spread out and are not restricted to a place or time frame, they are more relaxed, more engaged in their play and they have a sense of ownership, collaborating with the educators about the activities and experiences they want to see and play with.
We believe that by providing children with the autonomy and independence to make their own choices and decisions within the centre we are providing them with a sense of ownership and build collaborative partnerships with children. Children’s voice will be evident throughout the program as they are given the opportunity extend upon and make changes to the learning environments.

Our Philosophy

At Como Park we have an uncompromising commitment to nurturing active bodies and creating healthy minds through a holistic approach.

While every child has the ability to learn and develop, our Early Childhood Educators understand that each child has a unique approach to learning. We are committed to high expectations for each child’s learning and development and believe every child has the right to experience a sense of success and achievement.

Our teaching philosophy involves developing and maintaining a partnership with Children, Families, Community, Early Educators and the Environment as equal and respected contributors to a child’s journey in learning and development.

See Full Philosophy ›

acecqa.gov.au ›

Our Families

At Como Park Childcare and Kindergarten we value and recognize that by forming collaborative partnerships with families and the community we are enhancing and supporting children’s ongoing learning and development. New families are welcomed at the centre and a extensive orientation process is offered where families meet with educators to discuss individual needs, they are provided with information, a tour of the centre and any other relevant information. The centre provides a welcoming environment where each family’s needs, beliefs and values are respected and recognized and educators work with the families to reflect this in the everyday program.

Our Team

Como Park Childcare and Kindergarten is a quality Long Day Care Centre. the centre employs professional and suitably qualified educators, that deliver the high quality program to children and families. The centre has a reputation for continuity of care with its long standing, dedicated educators many whom have worked at the centre for a number of years. We have two communities each which cater for young babies’ right through to kinder aged Children. We offer an excellent educational program based on the needs, strengths and interests of the children, which reflects the Emergent Curriculum. All the children’s rooms are temperature controlled and resourced to the highest standard. We pride ourselves in our homely feel, beautiful natural yards and learning spaces that allow children to explore, imagine and discover.

Group time/ Storytime

Como Park is passionate about early childhood and dedicates time and energy to Grouptimes and Storytimes to ensure that children have a fun and exciting time during these daily sessions.

Everyday our children get to take part in grouptimes. We concentrate on presenting literature, gymbaroo, heavy work, music and movement that stimulate the children’s imagination as well as extending upon their language and literacy skills. Stories are only one part of the literacy learning that occurs during Storytime as the children engage with puppets, songs, poems, finger plays, dance and movement. Educators are proud that the children look forward to these sessions and participation is encouraged and supported at all times.

Our Menu

Como Park prides itself on providing a healthy nutritious menu catering to the needs of the children at all times. The menu has been approved by Nutrition Australia and the centre is currently participating in the The Achievement program. The centre has conducted the Smiles for Miles dental program which is part of The Achievement program. The Smiles for Miles program offers dental checkups for the 3-5 year old children that attend the centre. Toothbrushes and toothpaste are free to families to promote healthy dental practices at home.

Our menu is a four week rotating menu and each week the menu comprises of two red meat dishes, one white meat dish, a fish dish and a vegetarian dish for lunch. All meals are planned at the centre and our cook shops daily to ensure local and fresh produce is included in our menu. Our cook also includes produce from our garden which the children have planted, nurtured and picked to be included in our meals. Our menu is changed twice throughout the year and families are consulted and encouraged to provide feedback, suggestions and recipes for our menu.

Sustainability

Como Park is a sustainable centre and this is reflected through everyday practices and families are invited to be a part of this by recycling items from their homes e.g. fabric, grocery boxes, paper, cardboard and other collage items for the children to use in the art and craft area in the communities. Plastic bottles are also recycled and we use these to bottle our “worm wee” which we offer to our families for fertilizer for their gardens. The centre is a member of two recycle resource centres which the educators visit throughout the year to seek items to use in our programs at the centre e.g. wood, items for the collage tables, items for our sensory areas and other natural items which we recycle in our programs. These items can be seen in many areas of the program. Our food scraps are fed to our chickens and to our worm farm, paper and cardboard is recycled, shredded paper is offered in to our families for to take home for their gardens and pet enclosures. Everything old is new again, take a look at our home corner, mud kitchen and sandpit and you will see real items from homes e.g teapots, cups saucers, pots and pans, microwave, old tyres are used as planters for our shrubs, carpets and a couch are also recycled and all are valued additions to our programs. Families are a big part of our centre and this is another way they can contribute to our programs and philosophy.