Goodstart Early Learning Marleston

Did you know there is a free program available for families with babies aged 6–18 months who may be showing early differences in communication or social interaction?

Inklings is a research-backed program that helps parents and caregivers better understand and respond to their baby’s unique way of communicating. Families receive up to 10 free sessions with a trained practitioner, tailored to their child and family.

Families who have participated in Inklings say the program helped them feel more confident, connected and supported in their parenting journey.

The program is available across metropolitan and regional South Australia and can be accessed through health services, children’s centres, at home or via telehealth.

To learn more or register your interest, visit: inklings.org.au/sa

This morning, our Leadership Team participated in a thought-provoking professional learning session exploring the fundamentals of play. Facilitated by Hourglass Time Education, the training highlighted the complexity and depth behind the concept of “play” and its vital role in children’s learning and development.

Funded by Preschool Boost, this professional learning experience will further strengthen our leadership capacity to advocate for, support, and protect children’s right to play, ensuring we continue to provide rich and meaningful learning opportunities for all children.

We are closed on Monday 8th for kings Birthday. Enjoy your long weekend 😀

Today we joined children all across Australia in celebrating National Simultaneous Storytime.

Together, we read Luna Roo, an inspiring story about courage, perseverance, teamwork, and believing in yourself. The children listened with great curiosity, asked thoughtful questions, and shared meaningful ideas throughout the story.

This wonderful experience supported early literacy skills including listening, comprehension, vocabulary, and critical thinking, while also encouraging important social and emotional learning about resilience, confidence, inclusion, and teamwork.

Let’s check the physical environment in Toddler room that was set up to support this story time!

There have been so many curious minds exploring our centre lately!

In our shared yard, Preschool children have inspired our Pre-Kindy and Toddler children to discover worms, crickets, bugs, slugs, and other tiny creatures around our garden beds, compost area, and bush spaces. These exciting discoveries sparked many thoughtful inquiries such as:
✨ “How can a cricket jump?”
✨ “Why are ants black?”
✨ “Where do ants live?”

Our educators nurture these moments of wonder by extending children’s interests into meaningful indoor learning experiences, encouraging investigation, problem-solving, creativity, and a deeper connection with the natural world.

We love seeing children learn through curiosity, exploration, and hands-on discovery every day! 🐞🍃

✨ We are incredibly grateful for the wonderful feedback and kind reviews from our families! ✨

Thank you for trusting us to be part of your children’s learning journey. Your support, appreciation, and positive words mean so much to our team and remind us why we do what we do every day. 💛

We are proud to provide a safe, nurturing, and engaging environment where children can learn, grow, and thrive. Seeing happy children and hearing positive experiences from families truly makes our work rewarding.

A big thank you to all our amazing families for being part of our community! 🌱✨

Yesterday, our centre had a wonderful visit from Peter at the Australian Worm Farm, where children engaged in hands-on learning experiences about composting and sustainability.

Our sustainability journey began early last year when KESAB supported us in establishing our compost bin and raising awareness among children and educators about the importance of composting.

During yesterday’s visit, Peter guided us in reflecting on our composting progress and encouraged children from our Toddler room through to Preschool to actively contribute to the process. It was incredible to see the children’s growing knowledge and understanding of how to care for compost and protect our environment through sustainable practices.

We’d like to thank City of West Torrens for supporting us through KESAB environmental solutions programs.

This week, our team engaged in a reflective staff meeting where we critically reflected on the Goodstart READY principles — Relationships with children, Enabling environments, Attentiveness, Dialogue, and Young citizens. Together, we explored how we embed the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations into our daily practices to ensure children’s safety, wellbeing, and sense of belonging remain at the heart of all we do.

As a team, we also explored the Goodstart Protective Strategies Kit to strengthen our knowledge and empower children by building their protective factors from an early age. Through our play-based curriculum across the centre, we intentionally embed these strategies while respecting, valuing, and acknowledging each child holistically.

A simple backyard discovery led to rich learning

After finding millipedes, the children engaged in observational drawing—carefully noticing details and bringing them to life on paper. This experience supported early writing skills through pencil control, mark-making, and representing ideas, while also building language as children described and shared their thinking.

Creativity flourished as each child interpreted the millipedes in their own unique way, blending observation with imagination.
A reminder that even the smallest discoveries can lead to meaningful learning.

Interested in seeing our learning and practice in action?
Book a centre tour now ☎️ 0882976422