CSIROCare Early Learning Centre

The Victorian Early Childhood Regulatory Authority completed an assessment and rating of our service in April, and we are pleased to announce we got a rating of "Meeting" in all 7 Quality Areas.

If you would like to know more about the quality ratings, please visit https://startingblocks.gov.au/resources/choosing-a-service/the-assessment-and-rating-process

Yesterday was a very special day for CSIROCare Clayton, as we celebrated 34 wonderful years since opening.

To mark this meaningful occasion, our 3-year-old Kinder children came together to create a collaborative piece of artwork.

A large box was prepared, and each child was invited to choose their favourite paint colours and squeeze them inside. They then selected a ball to add to the box, and as a group, we worked together to shake and move it.

Throughout this shared experience, the children were encouraged to use directional language such as “up”, “down”, “inside”, “outside”, “left”, and “right”. This supported their understanding of position and movement in a hands-on and engaging way. It was lovely to see the children communicating with one another, taking turns, and working cooperatively towards a shared goal.

After completing the group artwork, the children were also given the opportunity to create their own individual pieces. This allowed them to explore their creativity more independently and express their personal ideas through colour and movement.

We are so proud of our low staff turnover at CSIROCare, and how our staff are so professional and dedicated and stay loyal to us for many years.
Today we celebrate two of our long serving educators, Sugandi and Lily.

What a wonderful Harmony Week we celebrated this week

Each day, our parents brought in "bread" from their culture.

We are so lucky at CSIROCare to be a community full of many cultures. A common theme in any culture seems to be the process of mixing milled grains and water (and a few other ingredients) and making "bread".

Countries represented this week were:
Eritrea
India
Sri Lanka
Japan
China
the Philippines
Pakistan
Vietnam
Canada
Bangladesh
Indonesia
Taiwan
Ireland
Germany
Russia

Thank you to all our parents who brough their bread in for everyone to sample.

We thoroughly enjoyed learning your culture.

We recently celebrated World Engineering Day.

STEM in early childhood education involves playful, inquiry-based learning that integrates Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics to foster natural curiosity and critical thinking.

Engineering: Focuses on design, construction, and problem-solving, such as building structures or designing ways to move items.

Our children always enjoy building and construction, and it's lovely to see them learning through play.

Today we celebrate Mary's 2-year service milestone. Mary is our Room Leader in Playroom 1 and has a lovely supportive nurturing nature with our babies. Mary was a casual with us in 2019, then came back to work here full-time in March 2024. Thank you, Mary, for all you do here at CSIROCARE

An historic day today as the Early Childhood Sector commences many reforms that came out of the Rapid Child Safety Review in 2025.

The National Workforce Register is one of these reforms.

CSIROCare welcome and embrace these changes and commit to the safety of the children in our care at all times.

National Early Childhood Worker Register

The new national Worker Register for early childhood education and care workers is launching on Friday 27 February 2026.
Approved providers must enter who is working in their services, and keep it up to date.

Regulatory authorities will use the Worker Register to identify who is working in ECEC services and where, helping them monitor and respond to risks.

For requirements, guidance and system information, visit ACECQA.

https://www.acecqa.gov.au/workerregister

Today we celebrate another one of our team's birthdays.

Sugandi is one of our longest serving team members with an impressive 14 years' service to her name.

We love looking after our team, so they are well and happy and stay with us, which improves the quality education and care we deliver to the children.