Creative Garden Early Learning Point Cook

Our Early Learning Environments

Creative Garden Point Cook provides a nurturing and enriching early learning environment that fosters exploration and curiosity.

The outdoor environments at our Point Cook child care centre include a sandpit, vegetable garden, bike track, climbing frame and more. Our outdoor learning program focuses on the development of your child’s strength, balance, and self-confidence.

Our indoor learning spaces offer a variety of engaging resources including interactive whiteboards, for children to learn and grow. Our experienced educators and teachers use these to design various age-appropriate play-based experiences.

Dedicated Team of Educators and Teachers

At the heart of our child care centre in Point Cook is our longstanding team of early childhood educators and teachers with some team members at the centre for over 5 years. We are a multicultural early learning centre in Point Cook, with educators proficient in multiple languages.

Our team of passionate and qualified early childhood teachers and educators are dedicated to ensuring every child feels safe, nurtured, and inspired throughout their early education journey.

Health and Nutrition

Our Point Cook early learning centre provides children with nutritious, unprocessed, and seasonal whole foods. Our menu rotates every week and caters to diverse dietary requirements including Halal. We actively involve children in food preparation to promote healthy eating.

At Creative Garden Point Cook, we recognise the importance of play in a child’s learning and development journey. Our team tailors play-based learning activities in line with national standards, specifically the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF), helping prepare them for school and beyond.

We also offer the following enriching learning experiences:

• Sustainability Program: Helps children develop and understand the importance of embedding sustainable practices into everyday life. Children learn about recycling, conserving water, growing food and the importance of protecting our planet.
• Community Engagement Program: Encourages children to interact with and discover their local community. We often have visits from community services, and we go out on adventures to teach the children about their local environment.
• Sports Program: Allows the children to be active and learn about different sports and movements.
• Real Life Experiences: Children participate in fun and exciting experiences such as harvesting the veggie garden, caring for our worm farm and early cooking skills.

Our Kindergarten programs are tailored to meet your child’s individual learning needs across numeracy, literacy, emotional and social development, resilience, and self-regulation.

Our Point Cook child care centre offers the VIC Government-approved Kindergarten enhanced learning program, supporting your child’s development and well-being from now, at school and beyond. In Victoria, 3 and 4-year-old children are able to access a funded Kindergarten program led by a Bachelor Qualified Teacher. If eligible, your child will be able to participate in the government-approved Kindergarten program, at no cost, up to a minimum of 15 hours per week, 40 weeks per year. Talk to us about how this reduces your out-of-pocket costs.

The added benefits of our Kindergarten program include:

• Extended opening hours
• Open all year round (excl public holidays)
• Programs developed and delivered by our Early Childhood Teachers
• Exclusive music and movement program for self-regulation

Creative Garden Point Cook provides early education and child care for children from nursery age through to kindergarten. Each room has been designed and set up to deliver the best early learning experience for your little one.

Our Nursery rooms (6 weeks – 2 years) provide:

• A homely, safe and secure environment for children.
• Highly qualified and dedicated educators who care deeply about children’s wellbeing and growth.
• Activities designed to grow physical and cognitive development, including tummy time, sensory play, music, singing, rhymes and reading.
• An open-door policy for families that allows them to drop in for a visit, a feed or a play at any time of the day.

Our Toddler rooms (2 – 3 years) provides:

• Play-cased activities including music, movement, memory and construction games that are designed to support sensory-motor and cognitive development.
• Enhanced social skills and self-confidence through group play.
• The ongoing development of language skills through reading and open-ended questions.
• Real-life and play-based experiences that allow children to engage in basic literacy and numeracy concepts.

Our Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten rooms (3 – 5 years) provide:

• A Kindergarten program with a comprehensive curriculum focused on further developing literacy, numeracy and social skills.
• Interest-based learning placing children at the forefront of their early education experience.
• Play-based opportunities to further develop social skills and emotional development.
• A transition-to-school program.

Alana

I started working in Early Childhood Education and Care in 2021 and started at Creative Garden Point Cook in 2023. I have a Diploma of Early Childhood Education. I have previously worked in special needs education for 10 years before making the transition into Early Childhood Education. 

I have absolutely loved my time in Early Education, the endless possibilities, seeing the smiles and hearing the giggles of children all day and knowing I am involved in the positive beginnings of their educational life gives me great pride and humbleness.

I have learnt that children are incredible teachers and are so excitable and proud to teach us. This guides my teaching style by being respectful to children as my learning peer.

I believe that children deserve the best introductory into learning, and I am passionate about supporting a team deliver it. The early years are the important years, it is what shapes and molds children for the learners and adults that they will grow to become.

Early Education and Care Centres provide consistency for children, open children up to social experiences, they learn how to get along with other children and adults and supports children learning emotional resilience, they provide inclusion and diversity and support children to become capable and confident learners.

Here at Creative Garden Point Cook we have an amazing team of 28 educators whose qualifications range from Certificate III to Bachelor of Early Childhood Education and Care. We have a dedicated, longstanding team, some of whom even opened our beautiful centre 9 years ago.

We support families in many ways, we work with children’s specialists, asking for feedback and using that to incorporate family voice into our programs and centre, we celebrate all cultural events and encourage families to be involved. We hold team and family bonding events such as multicultural food and dress up nights, a friendly competition Olympic day and we take the time to get to know our families and children individually!

A centre tour is a convenient way to experience the centre of your choice and meet with our qualified educators at a time suitable to your family schedule. Creative Garden also offers the virtual tour option in all our centres. Click here to book a tour online.

On the day of the tour, you’ll have the opportunity to observe practices and interactions within the centre environment. You’ll be able to see all the rooms and playgrounds, ask the team members any questions you have in mind, and get all the information you need to make the best decision for your child.

Creative Garden’s Family Support team will add your child’s name to our waitlist if one of our centres is currently full in your child’s age group. We will then contact you as soon as a place becomes available.

We also do monthly check-ins to review the availability, and you will receive a text message confirming if you’re still happy to remain on the waitlist each month. If you would like to get an update at any point, you’re welcome to reach out on our Web Chat or give us a call.

Our Family Support team can also help you find more G8 early learning centres near you, with the same offerings at the Creative Garden’s centre you are interested in that have immediate availability.

It’s common for a child to experience separation anxiety when they first start child care. When you’re getting ready to start child care, you can help your child overcome anxieties by visiting the child care centre together for a Stay and Play session, and easing into new routines at home.

Click here to read more tips about how to make the transition easier for your child.

Most of our Creative Garden’s child care and early education centres offer the following:

• Nappies and wipes
• Sunscreen and hats
• Nutritious meals prepared by our in-house cook

Some centres also provide sheets and formula, so you may not need to remember to pack them.

For nursery children, be sure to bring: nappy rash cream, dummies, bottles and teats, comfort toys or blankets, three spare outfits, spare socks and a plastic bag for wet clothes.

For toddlers and preschool or kindergarten-aged children, it’s best to bring: spare underwear, water bottle or sippy cup, sun hat, closed-toe shoes, two spare outfits, spare socks and a plastic bag for wet clothes.

Plus anything else your individual child may need, such as breast milk, a sleeping bag, a comforter or medication.

It’s best to speak to your centre of choice for a full list of everything included.

Creative Garden uses Xplor Home as our family communication app. It is the best and easiest way to keep track of your child’s day. After you enrol your child with the centre, you can utilise Xplor Home to book child care days, manage your account, receive the photographs that capture your child’s learning, learn about your child’s progress, as well as keep up-to-date with upcoming centre events and important information.

If your child shows signs of an infectious illness when they arrive at the centre or becomes sick during the day, you may be notified that you need to make alternative arrangements or pick up your child from the centre, and keep them home until they are no longer infectious. While we understand that this can be inconvenient, Creative Garden is committed to maintaining a healthy environment and reducing the risk of infection for all children.

Under the Child Care Subsidy (CCS), families are allowed 42 absence days per child, per financial year. These can be taken for any reason, including public holidays and when children are sick, without the need for families to provide documentation.