Creative Garden Early Learning Centre Bendigo

For your convenience, our Bendigo early education centre boasts a range of services including nutritious meals, exciting incursions and a specialised Kindergarten program to prepare your child for school and beyond.

We have hand-picked and trained an amazing team of qualified early childhood educators to provide children with play based learning and development experiences to ensure they flourish in our care.

Creative Garden Bendigo promotes learning though natural resources and environments. Recycling is a significant part of our curriculum with a recycling centre displayed in the foyer for families to add to as they enter and/or leave the service.  In the classrooms educators utilise these recycled goods for construction, art, drawing, imaginative play, classification, sorting and many other valuable learning experiences.   

Our Bendigo child care service has a vegetable patch which we will involve the children in exploring foods suitable to plant at this time of year and then involve the children in all steps of cultivating the soil, planting seeds, watering and eventually picking the foods grown. At present we are also exploring implementing worm farms into the early education centre which will support the richness of the soil for our vegetable patch.

In the outdoor area we have a fort that encourages imaginative play and also a hand crafted cubby house.  These areas are already popular with the children who engage in imaginative play and have already created some wonderful pirate ships.

Our Bendigo childcare centre in its design is very environmentally friendly with high ceilings, sensor down lights, large expansive windows to enable the centre to be flooded with natural lighting.  Outdoors the garden incorporates a variety of materials and textures including dirt/mud, sand, woodchips/tanbark, pebbles, stones, large boulders, red gum seating, a wooden bridge, decking and concrete.  Such a variety of textures we believe promotes children as competent and capable of learners.

Our Bendigo centre proudly offers a kindergarten / preschool program to ensure your child is supported for their transition to school every step of the way. With a focus on language, literacy, numeracy, social skills and more, our early childhood education programs will help your child become school ready. 

We have an open door policy and welcome you to visit the childcare centre in Bendigo to learn more about our amazing educators, facilities curriculum and more. 

Rooms

Our Bendigo child care centre provides care for the following age groups:

Facilities

Our service provides the following facilities:

• Nappies included
• Breakfast
• Morning Tea
• Lunch
• Afternoon Tea
• Other meals – late snack
• Sustainability program
• Veggie garden
• On-site parking
• SMART Interavtive Whiteboard
• Classroom technology – computer/s
• In-house cook
• Halal Meal options
• Fully air-conditioned
• Large, natural play environments
• Water Play Area – offered regularly
• Early Childhood Teacher
• Government Approved Kindergarten program
• Hey Dee Ho music program every fortnight!
• We are ‘Building up a community garden for the children and community to work in together

Jakki

I began my early education and care career in 2007 as a Diploma room leader. I hold a Diploma in Children’s Services and Certificate IV Training and Assessment. I joined the team as a centre manager at Creative Garden Bendigo in June 2022.

As an educator in early childhood, I believe children are central to everything we do. Children’s resilience and capacity to learn are the two things that never cease to amaze me. No matter what happens in a day, the children continue to smile and want to absorb all that is on offer.

A child is never too young to learn. If we provide the opportunities for them to learn, then the children will blossom into the knowledgeable young people they are destined to be. I believe that children who attend a dedicated early childhood education and care centre learn at a far greater rate as there is a dedicated team to provide multiple learning opportunities every day and children thrive in this environment.

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.