Monash Children's Centre

‘Under Bunjil’s Wings’ – Youth Art for Reconciliation 2025

At MCC, we are proud to nurture children’s understanding and appreciation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

This year, our theme “Under Bunjil’s Wings” inspired young minds to explore the importance of Indigenous rights and work towards a more inclusive and equitable future.

We were thrilled to participate in the exhibition with seven stunning canvas artworks created by children across all age groups from babies to our older Kinder rooms. Each piece reflected their heartfelt connection to the theme and their strong desire to contribute to the journey of reconciliation.

The children expressed their creativity through natural materials like sand, leaves, pinecones, papier-mâché, and various painting techniques using brushes, sponges, and even their hands, to bring Bunjil to life. These artistic expressions helped strengthen their bond with Country and the commitment we make to care for the land.

They also joyfully sang “Bunjil Our Creator” and explored Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture through music, stories, and puppetry.

A special highlight was having so many visitors who came to support and celebrate the children's work. It was a meaningful and inspiring experience for all involved!

We warmly invite everyone to view these amazing artworks and join us in celebrating this special exhibition at The Track Gallery:

Opening Celebrations
Friday, 16 May 2025 | 6:30 PM

Exhibition Dates
Thursday, 15 May 2025 | 2:00 PM – Sunday, 25 May 2025 | 4:00 PM

Location
The Track Gallery
47 Millers Crescent, Mount Waverley, 3149

Happy Nowruz! Celebrating Persian New Year at MCC

This year at Monash Children's Centre, we are excited and grateful to celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year, with our families!

Our educators have set up a beautiful Haft-Sin table, symbolizing health, wealth, love, and rebirth, to share the wishes of the new year with our children and families. We were also fortunate to have families and educators from Persian cultural backgrounds share their traditions and heritage with us, making this celebration even more special.

Nowruz is a time of renewal, joy, and togetherness, and we love embracing the rich diversity of our community.

Wishing everyone a Happy Nowruz!

Our Coordinators have been sharing their “unconventional” leadership, partaking in another requested interview with Community Child Care Association.

Angie Serwecinska and Natasha Nolan Addison co-lead Monash Children’s Centre (MCC) and have an unconventional approach to managing and retaining staff at their 100+ place service, which is consistently rated Exceeding in all seven quality areas.

Amid chronic staff shortages across the sector, Angie and Natasha maintain a steadfast ‘hold on tightly, let go lightly’ approach to staffing, which sometimes sees them fondly farewelling their star staff as they seek new opportunities.

“We don’t want to keep people as long as possible – we want to keep people as long as there is mutual interest," Angie explains.

https://hubs.ly/Q02V1RNt0

We absolutely adore these new beautifully hand crafted bibs for our babies. We carefully selected our fabric with a nod to Australiana with some fun loving sloths and bumble bees in the mix!
We thank 2 Black Rabbits for creating these for us.

https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/TwoBlackRabbits

We are excited to announce that we have been successful in our grant application for a Sustainability Project!

Our project aims to get children engaged in growing different plants and exploring them with their five senses. The children will take part in selecting seeds, planting, watering, and harvesting the plants. They will also touch, smell, and taste the produce they grow. Through this hands-on experience, they will learn about the plant life cycle and develop a deeper connection with nature.

This project will help children understand how plants grow, encourage them to enjoy fresh, home-grown fruits and vegetables, and stimulate their awareness of where food comes from and how we should respect our food.

It links in wonderfully with our Inquiry project, where our staff are delving into and learning more about Economic and Social Sustainability!

We are proud to share Monash Children's Centre's contributions to The Track Gallery's TREATY - Youth Art For Reconciliation Exhibition. You can view our children's works along with others in person at The Track Gallery, Mt Waverley Community Centre, 47 Miller Cres., Mt Waverley 3149.

The exhibition closes this Sunday, 9th June 2024
Opening hours are Saturday & Sunday: 10am to 4pm

CENTRE CLOSED:
Wednesday 14th Feb
As directed by Monash University we will be closed due to severe storm impact!
Please check emails regularly for more information and to stay abreast of further information.

Looking to join an exceeding team and centre where you are remunerated with above award pay and conditions, coupled with a professional environment and opportunities to grow as an educator?
Join our team, apply now via Seek, ensuring you send through a resume and cover letter!

https://www.seek.com.au/job/73005573?ref=search-standalone&type=standout =8c023a38fd93ba4ea5ccddbab0e7802431a20742

We are proud to share that we underwent our Assessment and Rating on the 30th November 2023! In true MCC form, and mirroring our consistent history we have once again, been rated Exceeding in ALL 7 areas.

This outcome would not have been possible without the unwavering leadership from our centre coordinators, guidance in critical reflection from our educational leaders and consistent curriculum and practice from our team of educators.

We also take this time to recognise and thank our Board of Directors, parents and children, who put trust in us to provide high quality care, education and support to our community. We are sure you stand proudly with us to celebrate this achievement.

Read about our centre coordinators, Natasha and Angie, where they were recently interviewed by Community Child Care Association for their Summer 2023: Edition 29 Roundtable Magazine publication.

Being a parent of young children can be rewarding and fun, but also stressful at times!

The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and Tweddle Child & Family Health Service are looking for dads of young children (aged 0-4 years) to get involved in a project about how to boost the health and wellbeing of dads during early parenthood.

We are inviting dads living in the City of Casey council area (e.g., Botanic Ridge, Narre Warren, Berwick, Cranbourne, Clyde, Hallam, Lysterfield Park, Beaconsfield, Pearcedale etc..) and surrounding areas (e.g., Frankston, Pakenham, Dandenong, Cardinia, Mordialloc, Keysborough, Somerville, Chelsea etc..) to join the study.

For more information visit: [https://www.mcri.edu.au/research/projects/working-out-dads](https://www.mcri.edu.au/research/projects/working-out-dads)

We're pleased to announce that our kindergarten program has been outperforming local and state government kindergartens with 100% parent satisfaction for the past three years!

As we have some limited availability, please contact us if you are looking for a place for your child in 3- or 4-year-old kindergarten for 2023.