Goodstart Early Learning Stafford

Face painting fun every Friday with Miss Mara

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 💛

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 👇

NAIDOC Week was a wonderful and busy time at our centre, filled with meaningful hands-on experiences that celebrated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. The children explored painting using tree branches as natural brushes, created their own musical shakers by decorating them with Aboriginal-inspired colours and filling them with rice, and enjoyed clay manipulation activities.

We also shared Aboriginal stories, explored traditional Aboriginal symbols by drawing them in the sand, and participated in a variety of other engaging experiences. These activities encouraged creativity, cultural awareness, and respectful appreciation of Australia's First Nations peoples while providing opportunities for learning through play and exploration.

NAIDOC week ❤️💛🖤 our children enjoyed painting pictures from one of our favourite books written by Gregg Dreise - we were lucky enough to meet Gregg when we visited the nudgee beach environmental centre earlier this year. We also enjoyed simultaneous NAIDOC week story time lead by Melody and San.

July events coming up! Looks like a fun filled month ahead 🌟

Today we celebrated IA Day and learned about the traditional Romanian blouse. The children had a wonderful time trying on the blouse and taking part in colouring activities.