East Maitland - Tillys Play & Development Centre

Tillys Play and Development Centre East Maitland is our newest centre, established in 2020 from a pre-existing service. It is a 79 place centre which caters for children aged 0-6 for 51 weeks of the year from 6.30am – 6.30pm. The centre is located close to Greenhills shopping centre and local schools.

The values of our centre include professionalism, relationships and connections with children and families, informed teaching practices, and building a holistic and inclusive program to support and nurture each child’s early childhood development.

The centre includes 4 large indoor play rooms including two 0-2 years nurseries, one 2-3 years toddler room and one 3-6 years preschool room. Our 3-6 years room encompasses a preschool program as well as a dedicated Transition to School program for children moving onto primary school the following year. A developing goal for us throughout 2021 is to build stronger connections with the local schools and other professionals to further develop our Transition to School program in conjunction with their ideas and curriculum, and appropriately support our children during the transition to school program.

Each room hosts a variety of areas and play experiences dedicated to their age groups, ranging from arts and crafts, play dough, construction and building, role play, puzzles, games and books. All rooms are presented with meaning and purpose as they incorporate children’s sense of Belonging, Being & Becoming and reflect the family input which we greatly cherish. Our daily program is designed to enhance children’s learning by incorporating all the aspects of the Early Years Learning Framework and Developmental Milestones. Children are given the opportunity to flow through play experiences as they please, moving from play to progressive meal times, to indoor and outdoor play. All rooms have access to the outdoor yard where natural shade and soft sun shine throughout. The outdoor yard invites the children to explore a variety of experiences, from the sandpit, bike track, soft fall area with climbing frames, mud pit, vegetable gardens and quiet play areas. The 0-2 yard has undergone refurbishment with a dedicated water play space which holds a trickling water fountain down a creek bed with bridge and natural gardens. Our 2-6 yard will be renovated within the coming months to feature even more natural play spaces.

Building connections with our local community is so very important to us as these partnerships enhance children’s inclusion, learning and wellbeing across their early years of life. Our centre currently has a meaningful partnership with our local library to support and promote children’s emergent literacy skills. Another goal in relation to community partnerships for us throughout 2021 is to build a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) as we aim to continually give acknowledgment to and create strong partnerships with Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the traditional custodians of this land being the Wonnarua people.

At our annual awards ceremony on Saturday 3rd February, celebrating our educators for 2023, Tillys East Maitland 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 Finalist – Discoverers

2-3 Room of the Year Finalist – Investigators

Pedagogy and Practice Award 2-3 Winner – Jodi Young

Trainee of the Year Practical Winner – Taylah Smith

Support Person of the Year Finalist – Melissa Widuch

0-2 Programmer of the Year Finalist – Mackenzie Mortimer

2-3 Programmer of the Year Finalist – Jodi Young

Educator of the Year Winner – Jodi Young

Outstanding Leadership Finalist – Jodi Young

Educational Leader of the Year Finalist – Amanda Grey

Nominated Supervisor of the Year Winner – Millie Brown

Commitment to Critically Reflective Practice Award Finalist – East Maitland