BY HEJIRA CONVERY, KINDICARE

MAY 31, 2024

Quality matters when you’re comparing, shortlisting, choosing and using childcare, and although every early learning service has its own pros and cons, there are some common things that indicate an exceptional offering.  

The calibre of the program, people and place make all the difference at an early learning service, and whether you live in Brisbane or further afield, Goodstart Early Learning Red Hill is a perfect example of a high-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) centre.  

Goodstart Red Hill currently holds a 10.0 KindiCare Rating, which is the absolute highest KindiCare Rating a centre can get, and they’re also rated Excellent by the Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority, which puts them at the pinnacle of ECEC quality.  

So, what makes Goodstart Red Hill so good? 

Well, there are certain facets that indicate a high-quality early learning offering, and Goodstart Red Hill has them all! 

Here are six things you’ll find at this centre, and can look for in your own childcare search: 

Quality indicator 1:  Caring and responsive relationships between educators and children  

Under-fives spend big chunks of time away from their parents, grandparents, older siblings and other support people when they’re at early learning, so it’s absolutely essential that they have centre staff they can rely on, and feel comfortable with.  

Educator to child ratios ensure that children get enough attention from an educator, but quality ECEC isn’t just a numbers game. 

Instead, great educators make a real effort to foster meaningful connections with each child, and their family.  

They’re on hand to provide comfort, build the child’s confidence, pay attention to their interests, understand their needs, help them manage their behaviour, and have fun as well!  

All of this happens at Goodstart Red Hill, and the calm, loving and centring energy of educators is especially important when their youngest children are learning to be separated from their families for the first time.  

Educators are deeply present when children are feeling very sad or very frustrated during tough times like drop-off, supporting the children’s social-emotional development by fostering nurturing and respectful relationships with them.  

Quality indicator 2:  Great learning programs, carefully designed to bring out the best in each child  

Ninety percent of a child’s brain develops in their first five years, so it’s really important that early learners experience a program that’s based on the Early Years Learning Framework and tailored to their individual needs, interests and abilities to help set them up for school and life.  

In practice, quality learning programs are well-planned, yet flexible; and at Goodstart Red Hill, the program for each age group is carefully designed according to the children in the space. 

In Goodstart Red Hill's Foundation space (for ages 15 to 24 months) all learning is tied to the children’s social development or emotional awareness, and this focus deepens by the time they move into the Pre-Kindergarten space (for ages two to three years) and are using their words to express their needs and “Nos.” 

For example, educators actively scaffold the children’s conversations with each other by always expanding their “Nos” to “Not yets” and “No thank yous,” so there’s a social understanding behind the “No.” 

Meanwhile, in the Kindergarten space (for ages three to five years), the program supports the children as they become active citizens in the world and prepare for big school.  

Goodstart Red Hill, and other quality centres, then weave in a variety of interesting and beneficial experiences for the children, and follow routines to teach life skills and build a sense of security. 

Quality indicator 3:  A rich environment that offers lots of avenues for learning and growth

Although you might think of grass and trees when you think of an environment, resources are a big part of the early learning environment, and quality centres offer lots of different things for children to learn and play with, both inside and out.  

Books, toys, art and craft supplies, loose parts and playground equipment are all examples of things that enrich an early learning environment. 

And at Goodstart Red Hill the quality of their environment shines through in their resources, and also in the design of their layouts, which allow children to access things on their own and successfully put them away.  

At Goodstart Red Hill, the learning environments also provide opportunities for:  

• Self-regulation (e.g. cosy reading areas and cubbies) 
• Creativity and problem-solving (e.g drawing, painting, crafting, modelling, building and roleplay) 
• ‘Big Body Energy’ (e.g. reaching, lifting, balancing and transporting), and  
• Technology (e.g digital drawing, photography and programming).
  
  

Quality indicator 4:  A thorough approach to health and safety  

Caring for children is a huge responsibility that quality centres do with passion and dedication, and all ECEC services are legally required to have solid health and safety policies and procedures in place to keep little learners secure and well.  

Obviously, accidents can happen and illnesses aren’t always avoidable (especially when under-fives are busy tasting toys, touching everyone, and not necessarily showing any symptoms). 

However, at quality centres there’s a strong focus on things like hand hygiene, sun safety, allergy awareness, healthy nutrition and age-appropriate risk-taking.   

Goodstart Red Hill is careful to dot the is and cross the Ts when it comes to health and safety, and they also have a healthy love for risky play.  

They know how beneficial it is for children, and the team works together to give children great experiences, including: 

• Climbing, dropping and maneuvering their bodies on obstacle courses 
• Rope climbing, scaling and swinging from their huge Camphor Laurel tree 
• Hammering, sawing and hand-drilling with real tools, and 
• Using glass cups, ceramic tea pots and lit tea candles during lunchtimes in every environment.  
  
  

Quality indicator 5:  Excellent ratings and glowing reviews 

You can tell a lot about a centre by its KindiCare Rating and National Quality Standard (NQS) rating, which are explained here and here. 

However, as a guide, a KindiCare Rating of 8.5 and above indicates that a centre is very good (8.5 to 9.0), excellent (9.0 to 9.5) or outstanding (9.5 to 10.0). 

If you see that a centre is rated Exceeding NQS (or is one of the very few rated Excellent), you’ll know that you’re looking at a high-quality early learning service.  

And if a centre is rated Meeting NQS, this means they’re providing quality education and care in all seven quality areas.  

Written and verbal reviews can also speak volumes about the quality of a centre, and although individual experiences may vary and reviews are subjective, a centre with stacks of five-star reviews and many word-of-mouth recommendations is likely to be offering quality ECEC. 

Again, Goodstart Red Hill is a perfect example of this.  

Brisbane parents LOVE sending their children to this centre, and are very happy to leave glowing reviews online, and recommend the place to anyone who’ll listen!  

They often comment on how calm the centre is, with engaged children, present educators, a leafy outlook, and no-one rushing around looking frazzled. 

Quality indicator 6:  A long-standing team of passionate and dedicated educators  

It’s not always possible for a centre to keep the same staff for years on end, and there are lots of amazing people just starting out in ECEC. 

However, if you find that a centre has a stable and passionate team, with long-standing members, this does suggest that the centre is a great place to work and they’re not in the business of providing flaky, mediocre early learning.  

Goodstart Red Hill is definitely a place where employees want to be, and stay: 

• Centre Director, Renee, has clocked 21 years at the centre
• Birth-3’s Pedagogy Leader, Laura has been there 17 years
• Support Educator, Nicole has put in 10 years of service, and 
• The rest of the team have been at Goodstart Red Hill for two to seven years, with several employees joining after the pandemic, but bringing years of Goodstart experience with them. 

It’s also great to know that when they’re recruiting new staff, Goodstart Red Hill invites prospective educators in for a centre tour (just like they do with families) to ensure that they resonate with the unique charm of the centre and really want to be a part of the team.  

We recommend you keep all of this in mind when searching for an early learning service, and if you’re in Brisbane, we’re happy to report that Goodstart Red Hill (miraculously) has a few Kindergarten places available. 

To ask for details and book a tour, simply click the ‘Make Enquiry’ button in their KindiCare app or website listing. 

And if you’re not anywhere near Brisbane, you can still channel that Goodstart Red Hill quality, by considering the indicators above when comparing different centres and reaching out to the ones you like.  

Photography by Goodstart Red Hill’s talented Centre Director, Renee Mitchell