Explore & Develop - Frenchs Forest

Explore & Develop Frenchs Forest is privately owned and operated by Jenny and Stephen Mays who have over 9 years experience in the early childhood industry and are the founders, alongside Alan Grant, of Explore & Develop.

Explore & Develop Frenchs Forest is a purpose built centre offering 5 age specific rooms, these being;

Our Joey room currently consists of 9 children, with a ratio of 1 staff member to every 3 children. We pride ourselves on offering a high quality, nurturing environment for children and their families during their first year in care.

We work closely alongside families in order to create home like routines for the children in this room, this allows for a smooth and non disruptive transition between home and care.

Our well eqipted tumble room and shaded natural play area provide stimulation and motivation for curious babies to explore the outdoor environment in a safe, protective learning area.

As in the joeys room, we work closely alongside families to provide routines similar to those experienced at home. The inclusion of a separate sleep area offers a calming space and helps to meet individual child routines.

Bilby children love the opportunities available to them to exercise their new found independence. As they are now more mobile, they are capable of wandering down to their large outdoor play area.

The dictated Bilby team support each child's emerging self-help skills, such as feeding and handwashing, within the routine. Their specialised programs are tailored to meet each child's interests and developmental needs.

Koala children are now in a fairly similar routine to their peers, usually they have dropped down to one sleep time and meal times

are now shared at the same time with their peers. In this age group children are now becoming more independent; toilet training is supported through partnerships with families.

The curious nature and growing language skills of this age group stimulates their wonder of the world around them. Their questioning skills help to form the basis of the interest based program which aims to offer new experiences and learning opportunities.

The Possum room is where children enter their junior preschool year. This group is now quite independent and their involvement in setting class rules and guidelines helps the children develop a sense of respect for themselves, their peers and their environment.

Through an interest based program and projects, the children explore and begin to make sense of early learning concepts in areas such as numeracy, literacy and science. We build upon language skills with opportunities in story telling and news time.

As social skills mature we begin to see more solid friendships evolve with children working together on shared goals.

This is our senior preschool year and the year in which most children prepare for life beyond Explore & Develop. Wombat children have a strong sense of autonomy and are keen participants in their learning environments.

During this year we extend upon and refine skills in key learning areas. There is a strong focus on skills such as literacy, numeracy and fine motor through the interest based program and projects.

Wombat staff work closely with families, school teachers and other early childhood professionals to ensure that each child is given the opportunity to work towards achieving school readiness outcomes. Our school readiness program promotes skills in areas such as academia, conflict resolution, self-help and self-confidence.

Our ongoing aim is to nurture each child's enthusiasm as they grow into self motivated learners ready for their next learning journey...

On top of this we also offer extra support for children with additional needs; working closely alongside families and other early childhood professionals to provide the best possible environments to nurture each child in our centre.