Pelican Childcare Fairways

Our Early Learning Environments

Pelican Fairways child care centre in Craigieburn provides a nurturing and enriching early learning environment that fosters exploration and curiosity.

The outdoor environments at our Craigieburn child care centre include a bike track, climbing fort, water play areas, a vegetable garden, basketball stand, sandpits, an outdoor craft station, special rainbow roof cubby house igniting children’s imagination through story books and creativity. Our outdoor learning program focuses on the development of your child’s strength, balance, and self-confidence.

Our indoor learning spaces offer a variety of engaging natural resources, a crafts corner, a home corner, a construction corner, a reading tree filled with story books, interactive whiteboards and more, all carefully selected for children to learn and grow. Our experienced educators and teachers use these to design various age-appropriate play-based experiences.

Dedicated Team of Educators and Teachers

At the heart of our child care centre in Craigieburn is our longstanding team of early childhood educators and teachers, with some team members at the centre for over 5 years. We are a multicultural early learning centre in Craigieburn, with educators proficient in multiple languages, including Samoan, Turkish, Sinhala, Tamil, Punjabi, Russian, Serbian, Croation, Urdu, Hindi and Arabic.

Our team of passionate and qualified early childhood teachers and educators are dedicated to ensuring every child feels safe, nurtured, and inspired throughout their early education journey.

Health and Nutrition

Our Craigieburn child care centre provides children with nutritious, unprocessed, and seasonal whole foods. Our menu rotates every four weeks to cater to diverse dietary requirements including Halal. We have specialized bowls that are color coordinated to identify allergies and anaphylaxis and we also have individual placemats that has every child’s photo on it and has information about what they can eat. We actively involve children in food preparation to promote healthy eating.

At Pelican Fairways child care centre in Craigieburn, we recognise the importance of play in a child’s learning and development journey. Our team tailors play-based learning activities in line with national standards, specifically the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF), helping prepare them for school and beyond.

We also offer the following enriching learning experiences:

• Sustainability Program: helps children develop and understand the importance of embedding sustainable practices into everyday life. Children learn about recycling, conserving water, growing food and the importance of protecting our planet.
• Community Engagement Program: Encourages children to interact with and discover their local community. We often have visits from community services such as the dentists, and we go out on adventures to the park teach the children about their local environment. 
• Music & Movement Program: Our “Magic Zoe” kindy dancing and “Sing and Grow” incursions are designed to develop fundamental skills that help support children’s self-regulation, memory, and concentration. Children learn to appreciate and develop an understanding of music – and of course, have fun.

Our Kindergarten programs are tailored to meet your child’s individual learning needs across numeracy, literacy, emotional and social development, resilience, and self-regulation.

We offer the VIC Government-approved Kindergarten enhanced learning program, supporting your child’s development and well-being from now, at school and beyond. In Victoria, 3 and 4-year-old children are able to access a funded Kindergarten program led by a Bachelor Qualified Teacher. If eligible, your child will be able to participate in the government-approved Kindergarten program, at no cost, up to a minimum of 15 hours per week, 40 weeks per year. Talk to us about how this reduces your out-of-pocket costs.

The added benefits of our Kindergarten program include:

• VIC ‘Best Start, Best Life’ Government-approved program
• Extended opening hours
• Open all year round (excl public holidays)
• Programs developed and delivered by our Early Childhood Teachers
• Exclusive music and movement program for self-regulation

Carol

I started working in early learning in 2015. I began my early learning years at Pelican Newbury and then had the opportunity to join Pelican Fairways in April 2022. I am Diploma Qualified with a Working with Children Check and a First Aid Certificate.

In my career, I implemented different learning strategies through play-based learning to foster children’s confidence and assist children in their future learning. I have built many relationships with children and families over the years who have left with footprints of memories that I could never forget.

Every child is unique and has different learning styles. However, I believe that the best learning in the first five years should come from play. A play-based learning environment encourages children to socialise and communicate, and it creates plenty of opportunities to build on their fine motor skills and physical motor skills to prepare them for school and beyond. At Pelican Fairways, we guide children’s learning with positive interactions with educators and their peers to keep them motivated. We encourage children to discover their own interests and strength and create individual learning goals based on each child’s progress.

Our educators at Pelican Fairways are respectful, empathetic, encouraging, and dedicated to providing the best possible care and education for our children. We come from different cultural backgrounds, and we incorporate everyone’s cultures into our daily practice.

I build relationships with families by providing regular updates and honest communication. I would greet the families face to face and have personal interaction to get to know families and children. We are open to feedback and love to support families wherever we can.

Rooms

Our centre provides care for the following age groups:

Facilities

Our service provides the following facilities:

• Nappies included
• Breakfast
• Morning tea
• Lunch
• Afternoon tea
• Sustainability program
• Veggie garden
• On-site parking
• SMART Interactive Whiteboard
• Classroom technology – Laptop in rooms
• In-house cook
• Halal meal options
• Fully air-conditioned
• Large, natural play environments
• Water Play Area
• Early Childhood Teacher
• Government Approved Kindergarten Program

A centre tour is a convenient way to experience the centre of your choice and meet with our qualified educators at a time suitable to your family schedule. Pelican also offers the virtual tour option in all our centres in Victoria. Click here to book a tour online.

On the day of the tour, you’ll have the opportunity to observe practices and interactions within the centre environment. You’ll be able to see all the rooms and playgrounds, ask the team members any questions you have in mind, and get all the information you need to make the best decision for your child. 

Pelican’s Family Support team will add your child’s name on our waitlist if one of our centres is currently full in your child’s age group. We will then contact you as soon as a place become available. 

We also do monthly check-ins to review the availability, and you will receive a text message confirming if you’re still happy to remain on the waitlist each month. If you would like to get an update at any point, you’re welcome to reach out on our Web Chat or give us a call. 

Our Family Support team can also help you find more G8 early learning centres near you, with the same offerings at the Pelican centre you are interested in that have immediate availability.

It’s common for a child to experience separation anxiety when they first start child care. When you’re getting ready to start child care, you can help your child overcome anxieties by visiting the child care service together for a Stay and Play session, and easing into new routines at home. 

Click here to read more tips about how to make the transition easier for your child. 

Most of our Pelican child care and early education centres offers the following: 

• Nappies and wipes
• Sunscreen and hats
• Nutritious meals prepared by our in-house cook

Some centres also provide sheets and formula, so you may not need to remember to pack them. 

For nursery children, be sure to bring: nappy rash cream, dummies, bottles and teats, comfort toy or blanket, three spare outfits, spare socks and a plastic bag for wet clothes. 

For toddlers and preschool or kindergarten aged children, it’s best to bring: spare underwear, water bottle or sippy cup, sun hat, closed-toe shoes, two spare outfits, spare socks and a plastic bag for wet clothes. 

Plus anything else your individual child may need, such as breast milk, a sleeping bag, comforter or medication. 

It’s best to speak to your centre of choice for a full list of everything included.

Pelican uses Xplor Home as our family communication app. It is the best and easiest way to keep track of your child’s day. After you enrol your child with the centre, you can utilise Xplor Home to book child care days, manage your account, receive the photographs that capture your child’s learning, learn about your child’s progress, as well as keep up-to-date with upcoming centre events and important information.

If your child shows signs of an infectious illness when they arrive at the centre or becomes sick during the day, you may be notified that you need to make alternative arrangements or pick up your child from the centre, and keep them home until they are no longer infectious. While we understand that this can be inconvenient, Pelican is committed to maintaining a healthy environment and reducing the risk of infection for all children. 

Under the Child Care Subsidy (CCS), families are allowed 42 absence days per child, per financial year. These can be taken for any reason, including public holidays and when children are sick, without the need for families to provide documentation.