Tillys Play and Development Centre, Rutherford is a 174-place early education childcare centre and Out of School Hours Care service. We are a purpose-built centre, that opened in 2018 and care for children aged 0-12 years. Our operating hours are 6.30am-6.30pm, 51 weeks of the year. We provide all meals including breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and supper, catering for any intolerances, dietary or allergy requirements, prepared fresh daily in our centre kitchen by our dedicated cook. The centre also provides a hat, drink bottle and sunscreen for your child.
We have a dedicated 0-2 years nursery space catering for 24 children per day. The children have access to two beautiful rooms and their own playground with an array of play spaces including sandstone sandpit, nest swing, bike track and large grass area. Our 2-3 years children also have two rooms with 15 children in each of these spaces. They share the outdoor area with our preschool children. The preschool rooms cater for a total of 60 children and have three large indoor rooms to engage in, including a purpose-built art room. The outdoor area for our 2-6 years children includes a large sandstone sandpit, swings, bike track, climbing forte, obstacle course and large open grass area.
Our Tillys OOSH service drops and collects children from the five local schools in our area using our centre buses. This includes Rutherford PS, Telarah PS, St. Paul’s Primary Rutherford, St. Patricks Primary Lochinvar and Lochinvar PS. We also have an amazing Vacation Care program available to all members of the community with planned experiences, including incursions and excursions for the children to local attractions including tenpin bowling, cinemas, inflatable world and Maitland park. Our OOSH area caters for 60 children each day. They have their own purpose-built area including an outstanding outdoor playground with a sandpit, large climbing web, sports equipment and a vast open space. Inside the children have access to three play spaces including two large rooms and a media room for the children to relax and unwind in. Our children are lucky in that they can be in our amazing environment from birth through to Year 6.
Within all age groups, we see our children as unique individuals, capable, dynamic and competent learners. We support our children to reach their full potential in each and every situation. We value the benefits of implementing an indoor / outdoor program with the children throughout the day. This gives the children access to both play spaces and the opportunity to flow through wherever they need, finding a quieter area inside or exploring our outdoor areas.
Our centre uses Storypark as an addition platform to communicate with families each day about what experiences children have engaged in, share photos and plan goals to support your child’s individual development. Our families are central to providing positive outcomes for our children. We aim to create strong, trusting partnerships with our families and utilise their input into our curriculum and experiences, ensuring everyone has a sense of belonging in our centre.
Our preschool aged children have the opportunity to engage in a Transition to School Program the year before they attend primary school. In this program we focus on developing a range of skills including fine motor development of pencil grip and cutting skills, problem solving, initial sounds, numbers, shapes and colours, social confidence, conflict resolution, emotional regulation, caring for their belongings and name writing and recognition. We work closely with our local schools, building on our existing relationship through our OOSH program to discuss and cater transitions for the children as well as collaborate through parent information nights, parent teacher interviews and a yearly report.
Throughout the year we host a variety of centre events for the children to engage in including dress up weeks, live shows, family picnic days, grandparent visits, mindfulness program and so much more! We plan these experience in collaboration with the children’s interests and family input.
At our annual awards ceremony on Saturday 3rd February, celebrating our educators for 2023, Tillys Rutherford and it’s educators were nominated as finalists and won a number of awards for their excellence and dedication to Early Childhood Education and Care. These include:
0-2 Room of the Year Winner – Little Hippos
2-3 Room of the Year Finalist – Meerkats
OOSH Room of the Year Finalists – Rutherford
Pedagogy and Practice Award 0-2 Finalist – Phoebe Morris
Pedagogy and Practice Award 2-3 Finalist – Tamara-Lee Cody
Pedagogy and Practice Award 3-6 Finalist – Kasey O’Brien
Pedagogy and Practice Award OOSH Finalist – Kalla Kindl
Trainee of the Year Practical Finalist – Natasha Zawirski
Support Person of the Year Finalist – Melissa Thiecke
0-2 Programmer of the Year Winner – Justine Van Kerkvoort
2-3 Programmer of the Year Finalist – Tamara-Lee Cody
3-6 Programmer of the Year Finalist – Kasey O’Brien
OOSH Programmer of the Year Finalist – Leisa Therry
Overall Programmer of the Year Finalist – Justine Van Kerkvoort
Educator of the Year Winner – Anamika Shrestha
Educational Leader of the Year Finalist – Maureen Ranola
Nominated Supervisor of the Year Winner – Lisa Mavin
The Anne Bourke Memorial Award for Community Engagement Winner – Rutherford
Commitment to Critically Reflective Practice Award Winner – Rutherford
Whole Service Commitment to Excellence Award Winner – Rutherford
Commitment to Team Culture Finalist – Rutherford for Squad Collaboration
We would love to show you around our beautiful centre so please contact us to book a tour today.
For more information on Tillys Play and Development Centre Rutherford or to enrol, please complete the enquiry form below or contact:
Ph: 49 326 072
Long Day Care Email: rutherford@tillyschildcare.com.au
OOSH Email: ooshrutherford@tillyschildcare.com.au
Or visit us on Facebook and Instagram to see the amazing experiences we have been involved in:
