We are gifted the opportunity to train educators under high level leadership. They are carefully monitored and overseen by your centre director, other qualified staff and their training assessor, this ensures quality of practice and embedded theory is maintained
Traineeships
Ashospitals need training nurses and intern doctors, early education and schoolsrequire training educators/teachers. This is why we at Play to Learn are aproud teaching early childhood centre. We are gifted the opportunity to traineducators under high level leadership, ensuring educators working in our sectorare highly qualified, passionate and committed!
Traineeships are generally run for a 12-month period, give or take a few months depending on the learning capacity of the individual. They are signed up through NSW state training and are provided all their course work through an external provider –we use ET Australia. They then receive a full day off the floor per month to complete their study, whilst all their planning and observations are done on the floor, benefiting your children! They are carefully monitored and over seen by your centre director, other qualified staff and their training assessor, this ensures quality of practice and embedded theory is maintained.
Trainees are generally young, as they exit school and search for a profession, they are passionate about. Young educators are usually full of energy, excitement and passion as they have not been conditioned from a previous workplace, so all of this works in our favour! They come with fresh perspectives and an eagerness to learn and bond with your children, it’s the start of an educator’s journey that we all remember.
Strict Recruitment
At Play to Learn our recruitment process is very strict, in most cases much more strict than other early childhood companies. We pride ourselves on strict orientations, probations, and ongoing performance management. No matter the position or qualification, if an educator breaches our values, philosophy or regulations they will be let go as we have never compromised on safety or quality, we provide our children and families.
Trainees are interviewed by the centre director, as we usually receive large amounts of applications for this role, we only interview approx. 10 applicants that suit.We then trial the applicants in centre and perform another face-to-face interview. Following this we may offer a second trial or offer the position.Once offered the position they must undergo two company orientations including the values and determination process, complete a first week intentions plan anda week orientation workbook. Our process is very thorough as we only keep educators who perform at a high standard at all times, if they don’t meet our expectations we simply keep looking.
Do Trainees Impact on my Child’s Access to High Quality Education and Care?
Absolutely not! Early education’s main focus is those core foundations of development, social and emotional intelligence, connections and holistic nurturing. Many trainees come in on the first day and this is automatic for them, coming from strong family values and younger siblings they love connecting with our little ones. Trainees bring fresh energy that children thrive off and are moulded by our qualified team in the process.
Many of us have older cousins, nieces, nephews, or neighbourhood friends that love playing with our little ones. They have a natural, organic pull to connect with children as they are still young themselves! However, the skills required from an early childhood educator are well exceed those of a babysitter, other wise early childhood teachers wouldn’t study a four-year university degree to obtain their qualification and skills! This is where we come in, a centre with already high performing teachers and educators who support a new educators introduction into the profession.
Trainees are closely guided and supervised by our most qualified team, and often observe the educational practices taking place before they implement them. This ensures consistency in our programs and high quality at all times. So even though your children are introduced to a new trainee every 12mths or so, they receive so many benefits from their time with us. As schools have interns and relief teachers, so does childcare, this only builds social and emotional resilience in all children as they develop skills in connecting with new people who may enter their lives.
We are grateful to have educated so many trainees in our 16 years of operation and look forward to investing more time into future educators to come!
We are excited to open our doors to our new state-of-the-art Toukley Centre. With architecturally designed spaces, curated to promote growth and wholistic learning we are proud to have created an environment for enriched learning. Our new center is underpinned by our unique approach to education, one that is grounded in humanity, arming children with tools to thrive in the contemporary world and their formal education.
The two basic elements of a safe and secure connection can be found in predictable routines (rhythms of the day), and through the adult consistently showing up in a warm manner, while ensuring boundaries are maintained. In this blog, I will focus on predictable routines, what it is, and what strategies you could include in your day-to-day routine.
‘Present- being in the moment, at peace and not thinking beyond the present moment’. Developing this ‘skill’ can take time, and it is normal to feel overwhelmed when first exploring what connecting consciously entails. I recall, how overwhelmed I felt as a parent while juggling, business, work, family, the home, organisation, meeting the day-to-day needs of my children, and the list goes on! I knew there had to be a better way, to get all the above done while still understanding each child, ensuring they are seen, heard and felt daily.
