For the past 16 months our daughter has been attending Scola and participating in their kindy program. Before Scola, our daughter was enrolled in a typical chain-based childcare in which we dealt with high staff turn overs and challenging drop-offs amongst other issues. After being stuck in Melbourne during lock down, it was particularly important for us to focus on developing our daughter’s social interaction and skills. We visited and researched many childcare services in search for one that aligns with our philosophies for our children’s education. More so than academic learning, we value a different set of skills for our children in these early developmental years. Our wish list was comprehensive; we wanted a centre that had open, challenging, and unlimited outdoor play. We wanted a place where learning and play was truly child led. We wanted somewhere where our daughter would garner skills to become confident and independent. We wanted a place with no screen time but a strong focus on connection and play. On top of that we were pedantic about healthy meals, emotional coaching, firm limits, and strong boundaries with natural consequences and focus on self-regulation instead of punishments.

We could not be happier with the education and care our daughter is receiving at Scola. The educators and staff are all kind, warm, happy to chat and the educator staff turnover is very low. They’re interested in our children, our family and are happy to work with us on our goals for our daughter. We really like the homely feel that the centre has. We love the set up, where the centre is divided into activity areas instead of segregated by age. We love how it gives the children the choice of activity they want to be involved in and free roam between the different zones. We can see, with that choice, the children immersed in the activity they’re participating in. We have also seen the benefits of the interaction between the ages – it is lovely to see the younger children emulating the behaviour of the older kids as well as seeing the older kids, learning to be leaders, guides, gentle and inclusive in play.

As Scola is centred on play-based learning, you might wonder if the children would be behind on literacy and numeracy. Our experience has however been the opposite. The educators at Scola involve the children in choosing what they want to learn about and implement that learning in all aspects of play. As a result, our daughter has been able to delve into educational theories such as human biology (Human Body theme), the natural world (Animalia theme) and core competencies such as learning to read and write in a far superior environment which has led to her having a passion and drive for learning rather than being instructed to sit still and learn. We feel this approach to learning is the best way for children under seven years of age. It is fun, effective and the children become immersed on the topic and exploring their curiosities. The educators spend time with the children fostering their interests and working together with the children in the individual level on improving their knowledge.

Scola provides strong limit setting, conflict resolution and handling of the children’s emotion in a calm and kind manner, teaching and emulating to children good communication skills whilst still being firm on the boundaries. We also observe strong focus on self care and respectful behaviour which is visible during drop off and pick up times. The children in the centre are polite, respectful, and kind. Behaviours modelled also through the educators.

In summary, we have observed great improvement in our daughter’s general knowledge, including a passion for learning that is not always seen when the learning is adult led versus child led. We have seen our daughter’s personality grow from being shy, being a follower, and struggling to voice her discomfort in situations to a little girl who’s finding her voice and is more confident to say no, to lead as well as follow and to push herself out of her comfort zone.

We are forever thankful to the wonderful educators and staff who care for our daughter at Scola Early Learning.