Owner/operators Simone & David Brand are locals of the Central Coast. David brings with him a wealth of business knowledge and a great support for his wife and the centre. Simone combines her passion for teaching & the practical experience of providing a fun and positive experience in the early years of life. Having two children of their own, together they are dedicated to improving the experience children have within their care.

Working & studying alongside early childhood professors, theorists and leaders in the early learning/development field Simone has lived and breathed early childhood education for twelve years, completing a Bachelor of Education from birth to year 2 of Primary school. Simone feels that having experience within primary schools is key to providing an approach that is both engaging, age appropriate with the skill set to teach school readiness for primary school environments. Simone has had taught within the Central Coast Grammar School and Kincumber Primary Schools.

Simone was selected to complete a Senior Management Certificate through Semann & Slattery ‘ilead’ program, designed specifically for preschool services, as well as having been appointed Educational Leader, Policy & Procedure Officer and in charge of two Quality Improvement Plans. Simone has had the experience of opening two centres and was the acting manager during the Assessment and Rating process of a service having received Exceeding Standards. Our Terrigal service, after our first Assessment and Rating, was proudly awarded the rating of Exceeding Standards.

Simone has taught performing arts since she was 16 years of age, this talent led to a Diploma of Performance & allowed her to travel the world giving life to cultural diversity. This has significantly influenced her profession & personal philosophy of active, inclusive and personable educators. Her natural interest in Science, Mathematics and Literacy allowed for her to grow within this industry as an individually defined educator.

Simone’s vision is to continuously improve on her own skills and the skills of her staff, focused on providing a fun, educational and inspiring centre ready to foster confident, happy children with a passion for learning.

We provide a balanced approach, using holistic, open ended play and intentional teaching. This allows children to take risks, make choices, challenge their knowledge and experiment, developing their agency and confidence. We support the developmental stage of each child using ACECQA’s developmental guide. Educators utilise intentional teaching techniques and the interests of the child to provide rich and meaningful opportunities for children to learn.

The exclusive Learn. Play. Thrive. curriculum is a holistic and un hurried approach capturing the neurodevelopment of each individual child with the integration of the STREAM approach. This stands for Science, Technology, Reading and Writing, Engineering, Art and Math. The goal of STREAM is to increase skills by acquiring fundamental literacy, scientific and mathematical thought processes, in experiences that are purposefully planned and structured to extend and enrich each child’s learning. We emphasise communication and language development, in both verbal and written forms.

We follow both new and old theoretical pedagogies to ensure a balanced approach suited to the children in our care and ensuring inclusive practices.

We are proud that we do not take on one sole approach to early education as we feel this can limit us in our ability to be truly inclusive and plentiful in unique opportunities as they arise and emerge. We have the knowledge of many approaches and by taking our stance we are able to choose the most suitable, fun and engaging experiences to foster outcomes.

Children’s language acquisition predominantly occurs around the age 0-4.5 years. We know that children who are exposed to a second language during this age are far more likely to obtain and learn languages when they are adults. We provide children with a variety of interactive lessons, songs and exposure to the world’s many languages and cultures.

Play is a word used to describe self-paced investigation. It is recommended by scholars that children have at least two hours of uninterrupted play per day for healthy emotional development. In play children take measured risks and develop social skills.

We follow the Early Years Learning Framework ‘Belonging, Being & Becoming’, to provide a high quality education experience. We believe that when children engage in hands on, play based learning, they are more involved and deepen their understanding of key topics. In addition to this, during the zone of proximal development, the point where the child’s knowledge is limited, an educator can facilitate new knowledge. Educators use active provocations to promote problem solving skills as well as sharing their own expertise or planned learning experiences to provoke active curiosity, deepening cognitive development.

The aesthetics of the environment are welcoming, calming, engaging and have a sense of familiarity to children. This allows them to feel Safe, Secure and Supported. The three S’s are vital to the fundamentals prior to the initiation of play and learning.

We believe that artistic play facilitates creativity and innovation in children, encouraging them to become confident individuals who are capable of expressing their own voice. We actively encourage creativity and believe that art can be discovered in many forms, whether it is in the form of painting, building, drawing, dance, movement, music or performance.

We believe that children need to be children, with all the unique ways they like to express themselves. We encourage playfulness; we are a caring environment for children to find out what they love, who they are and how they fit into this great big world.

We place a strong focus on our relationships with children and their families. Our aim is to become a part of your extended family. The fundamentals of lifelong learning are intrinsic motivations to learn. We believe that this stems from positive interactions and experiences during their early years.

A simple smile will light up 100 billion neurons in a baby’s brain for over half an hour & we want to make the experience fun! Sprout Early Learning Centre makes a commitment to continuity, with educators transitioning between rooms each year, ensuring that one educator follows your child’s Sprout journey.

Our nature walks, animal sanctuary and emphasis on sustainability, fosters responsibility and environmental consciousness. The benefits of engaging children in ‘nature’ have been found to reduce stress throughout childhood and into adulthood.

Our active kids element encourages children to make healthy lifestyle choices. We implement a Munch & Move fundamental gross motor and healthy eating program, yoga in our purpose-built studio, meditation during rest periods and agriculture. At Sprout we have several gorgeous animals to encourage responsibility, nurturing others and sustainability.

We believe that the community provides a vital role in the children’s lives.  We take an active role within the Central Coast community supporting local businesses. We incorporate incursions, excursions, social events, community events and participation of our families  within the program.

Our menus are developed by a qualified local nutritionist. We incorporate fresh foods with fresh ideas which are both healthy and inviting to children’s appetites.

Our vegetable gardens are incorporated into our meals, along with local organic farmer and produce companies. This seed to plate process allows us to teach children the importance of food production. The children have hands on opportunities to maintain and harvest the various vegetables seasonally. This holistic approach to our meal times allows us to educate children on how to make healthy choices.

We aim to provide clean eating whenever possible. Our in-house qualified chef provides breakfast before 8am, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and a light supper.

Rest assured that Sprout ELC caters to the energy and vitamin intake appropriate for young children’s lifestyles set by the NSW Health Authority.