Wattle

Our Wattle Room provides high-quality care and education for children from birth to 2 years. Ratios for this age group are 1:4 to ensure warm, responsive and consistent relationships.

Our program for children aged birth to 2 years is a play-based early learning program facilitated by qualified early childhood educators who provide a calm, nurturing and developmentally appropriate environment. The curriculum supports infants and young toddlers as they begin to explore their world, develop early communication skills, form secure attachments and build the foundations for lifelong learning.

Children in this age group are developing important skills that foster early social connection, emotional regulation, curiosity and emerging independence. Through play-based experiences and gentle, responsive interactions, educators support children to explore safely, make simple choices, experiment with sensory materials and express their needs and ideas in a variety of ways. We nurture each child’s developing sense of identity and emotional security, and we prioritise outdoor play to promote wellbeing, physical development and sensory exploration. Children are supported to build early language, foundational numeracy concepts and problem-solving skills through everyday routines, songs, stories and playful interactions. We value, acknowledge and celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures as well as the diverse cultures represented within our community.

Our outdoor space is expansive and offers developmentally appropriate opportunities for young children to explore the sandpit, enjoy water play, practice climbing and balancing, engage in big-body movement and investigate natural materials. Children are encouraged to move between indoor and outdoor spaces with support, and sensory, creative and quiet experiences are offered throughout the day to meet the needs of very young learners.

During this stage of development, children experience rapid growth in communication, physical abilities and emotional expression. They begin to form strong attachments with educators, show preferences for materials or routines, attempt simple turn-taking, and develop increasing independence in early self-help skills such as feeding and dressing. Educators provide warm, consistent and attuned care—modelling language, supporting emotional regulation, and responding to children’s cues—helping them feel safe, secure and confident.

Our educators use the principles of the Circle of Security to guide interactions and relationships. This approach focuses on helping children feel secure enough to explore, while knowing they can return to trusted adults for comfort, regulation and reassurance. By understanding and responding to children’s needs for both independence and closeness, we support strong emotional foundations and promote confidence, resilience and secure attachment.

Trained educators deliver the Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum, a child-safety and respectful relationships curriculum designed for children and young people from birth to Year 12. Infants and toddlers engage with this curriculum through developmentally appropriate experiences that help them to:

• Understand they have the right to feel safe

• Begin to recognise safe and unsafe situations

• Build foundational skills for keeping themselves safe

• Seek support and comfort from trusted adults

As children become developmentally ready, we gradually provide experiences that support a smooth transition into the Jacaranda room (18 month–3-year-old program), including early social skills, simple problem solving, self-regulation strategies and confidence in exploring new environments.