Our centre and multi-age grouping
Central Park is a small, community-based childcare centre located in Malvern East, Melbourne. Our large Victorian property has been refurbished to provide lovely all-weather play spaces for children to explore and grow. This includes a covered outdoor annexe, a large backyard playground and a children’s garden out the front.
We care for up to 25 children between the ages of six months and five years, where all ages are grouped together for the duration of the day. We are passionate about and advocates for multi-age grouping. Some benefits of this approach include:
- Younger children have the opportunity to observe and imitate a wide range of skills demonstrated by older children, often resulting in more interactive play and learning new things.
- It can enhance the social and emotional behaviour of older children, with the opportunity to master social skills such as leadership, turn-taking, safety awareness and responsibility for younger children.
- Siblings and friends of different ages have the opportunity to spend time with each other as they are placed together, not in separate rooms.
- It fosters a stronger sense of community and connection – as a group, children care for, respect and connect with everyone in our community.
- Educators spend time with and get to know all of our children.