Goodstart Early Learning Albury - Mate Street

Strong relationships are the foundation for confident, curious learners 💛

Goodstart’s key educator approach ensures every child is known, supported and feels safe - through consistent, nurturing connections with educators and meaningful partnerships with families. These bonds help build wellbeing, resilience and a true sense of belonging from day one.

Discover how this approach supports your child’s learning journey: https://brnw.ch/2

Did you know we invested $65.5M into our social purpose last year, a 14% increase on the year before? 👏 At Goodstart, we're proud of the impact we have on children, families and communities. As a not‑for‑profit, every dollar we earn is reinvested to improve outcomes – from high‑quality learning and educator development to extra support for children who need it most.
Because when we put children first, the impact goes further 💛

Everybody’s favourite week of the year is here! 💤💤💤

We’ve been wearing our Pyjamas everyday and getting cosy for good cause raising awareness and funds for children in foster care.

Together our Banff Ave community has raised $104 in gold coin donations to donate to the the Pyjama Foundations Love of Learning program which helps kids in care - Australia’s most educationally at-risk group - to build brighter futures 📚🌟

It’s not too late.. if you’d like to donate you can head to the following link and join our team in supporting this wonderful cause 🤗

https://fundraise.thepyjamafoundation.com/fundraisers/goodstartalburybanffave

The research is clear 📚 reading aloud is one of the most powerful things we can do for our children.

When we read with a child, we’re doing far more than sharing a story. We’re building the foundations for language, confidence, curiosity and a lifelong love of learning.

Decades of research shows that children who are read to regularly:

💛 Build stronger language skills
Hearing rich varied language in books exposes children to far more words than everyday conversation alone. This growing vocabulary helps them understand, communicate and make sense of the world.

💛 Develop early literacy skills long before they learn to read
Through stories, children learn how books work – that print carries meaning, that pages turn left to right, and that stories have a beginning, middle and end. These early understandings make learning to read feel familiar and exciting.

💛 Strengthen phonological awareness
Rhymes, rhythms and playful sounds help children hear the building blocks of language.

💛 Grow their comprehension and thinking skills
Talking together about a story, predicting what might happen, wondering how a character feels, and connecting events to real life helps children develop memory, problem-solving, and higher-order thinking.

💛 Experience connection, comfort and joy
Shared reading fosters calmness, closeness, and moments of joint attention. These warm interactions support a child's sense of security and belonging.

Most importantly, children who experience positive, engaging reading moments from a young age are more likely to develop a genuine love of books - something that matters even more than early literacy skills alone.

Reading is simple, joyful, and sets children up for success in school and life.

Here is a list of some of our favourites below 👇

Today marks an incredible 20 years of service for Goodstart for our wonderful Centre Director Melinda 🎉🎉🎉

Thank you, Melinda, for the care, dedication and commitment you have shown to children, families and our team over the past two decades. You have helped create so many special memories and made a lasting difference in the lives of countless children and families 🫶🏻

Congratulations on this remarkable milestone, and thank you for everything you do 🤗🤍

A big thank you to all that popped in yesterday to our Banff Ave farewell afternoon tea! It was really nice to catch up with so many familiar faces! 🥹🎉
An even bigger thanks to Kate Jhonston for organising it all and to Christie Maxwell for helping with the food 🥪🍰
We are on the home stretch now 👋💪❤️

We are looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow for our farewell 🫶👋🥳