St Joseph’s Preschool & Long Day Care Centre met the National Quality Standard in all seven quality education areas in its accreditation audit recently carried out by the NSW Early Education and Care Directorate, which is part of the Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority.

Congratulations to the service manager, Heather Mayne, and her team on this outstanding result.

The seven areas assessed by the audit team were:

• Education Program and practice
• Children’s health and safety
• Physical environment
• Staffing arrangements
• Relationships with children
• Collaborative partnerships with families and communities
• Governance and Leadership

The audit team, in its summary comments, highlighted the commitment to quality demonstrated by educators and staff through their ‘relationships with children and an education program that responds to the children’s interests and scaffolds their learning’.

Heather Mayne, Centre Manager for St Joseph’s Preschool & Long Day Care Centre was delighted but not surprised by the outcome of the audit.

“I am extremely proud of our team for achieving this result, especially, after a tough couple of years for our service and, indeed, for the Early Education industry as a whole, through which we’ve overcome many challenges including staff shortages, natural disasters and COVID disruptions,” said Heather.

“Achieving the National Quality Standard in each of the seven quality areas is evidence of the strong relationships we enjoy with our children & families; the good systems we have in place; and the great teamwork we have developed within the service.”

“We will not be resting on the results of this audit. Our culture is one of continuous development, so we are always looking for ways to improve what we do and value any feedback we receive,” concluded Heather.

St Joseph’s Preschool and Long Day Care Centre is a 59-place service that offers both Preschool (8.15am – 3.45pm) and Long Day (7.30am – 5.30pm) hours for children from 2-6 years.