ELC Gungahlin

At YMCA Early Learning Centre Gungahlin, we believe in Bowlby’s theory of attachment, building secure, high quality relationships with children. We see these relationships as key to children’s learning and holistic development in becoming capable and confident learners. This alongside high quality pedagogical practices which are underpinned by theory, research and individual children’s abilities and learning styles provide children with the tools for lifelong learning. Building relationships and working in collaboration with families is also beneficial to children’s learning and development.

As advocates for children’s rights, we strongly believe children have the right to be treated with dignity and respect and to have their voices heard. We allow children to ask their own questions and guide their own learning through exploration and discovery, generating many open ended possibilities.

We as educators, see ourselves as co-researchers and partners in learning alongside the children, which is derived from the Reggio Emilia values and principles. With this intent we believe children have the right to receive an educational curriculum dedicated to early childhood learning based on principles, practices and learning outcomes. We acknowledge the Early Years Learning Framework, and embed a pedagogy of play based learning throughout our curriculums and daily practice.

As early childhood educators our pedagogies and practicices are influenced by many different theorists and approaches. We implement principles of the RIE and Pikler approach not only within the Infant and Toddler spaces, but throughout the whole centre. We recognise routines as “care moments” and see these as rich learning opportunities for children. We not only respect children, we demonstrate our respect every time we interact with them. Respecting a child, to us means treating even the youngest infant as a unique human being.

We believe children are our future and will be the caretakers of our environment. We are committed to embedding sustainable practices within our service and the wider community. We utilise our environment as a third teacher, giving the children a sense of belonging in our world. Resources such as loose parts are a key resource and approach to learning throughout our indoor and outdoor learning environments, which offer both open ended possibilities whilst being sustainably sourced and re-purposed.

We recognise that it takes a village to raise a child and see each family as unique and strongly value our families’ contributions to our curriculum, through participation, involvement and feedback in a collaborative manner. Linking Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological systems theory, family members form part of the childs closest network system. We also implement this theory to support each child to discover the world around them, through the assistance of strong community links and engagement within our local community.

We acknowledge that we live in a culturally diverse nation, and it is imperative to respect each child, family and educator’s rich culture, traditions and backgrounds, by providing an inclusive environment for all. We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we live and work on, the Ngunnawal people, and aim to respectfully incorporate elements of the Indigenous culture into our curriculum and learning environments.

As educators we believe in providing an inclusive environment that allows children to have a say in matters and decisions that affect them. All children are entitled to feel safe and secure and deserve respect and protection of wellbeing regardless of age, gender, religion or disability.

Opening Hours: 7 am to 6 pm Monday to Friday (closed on Public Holidays)

Location:  94 Swain Street, Gungahlin, ACT

The YMCA firmly believes that greater educator to child ratios provide the best learning environment for our children and the best teaching environment for our educators. For this reason we keep our room ratios as follows;

Waiting List
If you would like to go on our waiting list for a place at a YMCA Early Learning Centre please visit our Enrolment Process page.