(03) 9397 8244Our Services
At the Range we cater for children aged 6 weeks to school age.The Range operates 5 rooms for long day care. From youngest to oldest, rooms are Joey, Possum, Koala, Kookaburra.
We also operate 3 Sessional Kindergarten rooms, Crocodile (3 Year Old Kinder), Kangaroo (4 Year Old Kinder), and Wallaby (3&4 Year Old Kinder)
Our Philosophy
At The Range Children’s Centre, we aim to provide an environment that is an extension of the child’s home where they feel safe, welcome, respected and valued.
We build respectful partnerships with families to implement learning opportunities that foster the children’s social, emotional, physical and intellectual wellbeing.
We value the importance of play-based learning and offer a wide range of experiences based on each child’s interests, ability and age and stage of development. Literacy, numeracy, physical activity and an appreciation of the arts are integrated into our curriculum on a daily basis.
Sustainable practices and respect for the environment and resources are embedded in our service. This is integrated into the curriculum and reflected daily through educator role modelling and engaging in discussions with children. Providing children and families with a sense of ownership and responsibility for the resources and environment encourages our community to protect and value what we have.
We believe that every educator at The Range Children’s Centre plays an important role in each child’s sense of belonging through positive and supportive interactions, modelling appropriate respectful behaviour and displaying genuine interest and concern for each and every child and their family.
Developing caring and mutually respectful relationships with the children and families is important to us. This is achieved through open communication and by educators taking the time to share aspects of each child’s day with the families.
Listening to children’s voices and responding to them positively builds each child’s sense of belonging. Including their thoughts and ideas in decision making within the rooms plays an important role in developing the educational curriculum and our centre philosophy.
We believe supporting the children’s holistic development will continue to build their confidence, their self-esteem and assist them in showing respect for each other. This will lay the foundation for resilient independent young people who are well equipped to participate in life.
Our History
The Range Children’s Centre is a community run child care centre and kindergarten, in the inner Western Suburbs of Victoria, Australia.
The Range offers educational programs, in a nurturing, respectful environment. Children from as young as 6 weeks of age are cared for at The Range Children’s Centre, through to children up to school age. Families are also able to participate in sessional kindergarten programs, for both 3 & 4 year olds.
The Range Children’s Centre has been operating since September 1996. Currently there are 220 families utilizing the service.
The Centre is managed by a group of volunteer parents and community members who determine policies, procedures and best practice. This is in consultation with staff and outside resources. All voting members of the Committee of Management work on a volunteer basis.
The families that utilise the service are diverse in culture, values, beliefs and socio-economic background. All are made welcome and are encouraged to actively partake in the daily program with their children. Often families are asked to voice their opinion and offer opportunities for evaluating the program effectiveness. There are also opportunities for families to participate in information programs, such as ‘Behaviour & Guidance Techniques’, ‘First Aid in the home’ etc.