What Makes
Us Special?

As one of just a handful of Melbourne-based family-operated childcare groups, Wallaby Childcare is uniquely positioned to provide your family with real care, rare accountability and an experience that rewards children and parents alike.

Our key Directors, have been with Wallaby Childcare since the earliest days, and most of our staff have been with us for many years. That means they know the children in their care, their siblings and their parents. They see your child as part of a family …and they see themselves as an extension of that family.

So how do we keep the best people? We help them to be their best. At Wallaby Childcare we encourage our team members to develop their skills, add to their qualifications, and build their careers. All undertake professional development throughout the year and many choose to continue this development even further. We are happy to pay for more highly-qualified staff because we believe you get what you pay for …and we value the best.

While all our staff are degree, diploma or certificate qualified to the expected level, many have undergone further education and hold higher level qualifications as well. In addition, all hold a Working with Children Check and a First Aid Certificate that encompasses CPR skills plus anaphylaxis and asthma response. Our chefs are fully-qualified with the appropriate Food Safety certification, and all staff undertake food handling training annually as part of our Food Safety Plan.

As one of the only local operators with an in-house construction group, Wallaby Childcare is uniquely positioned to purpose-build centres for the individual needs of our children and staff.

Every Wallaby Childcare centre is designed in consultation with our leadership team and the Centre Director to provide their dream features. This means our centres are as unique as our children – with everything from outdoor classrooms, to bespoke play-gyms, to our famous Big Red Barn.

In every Wallaby Childcare centre you’ll find individual rooms to cater for Babies, Toddlers, Pre-Kinder children and Kindergarteners. Our centres are designed to grow and adapt with our programs, the seasons and our children’s changing interests. Indoor-outdoor learning is a key focus in every centre with window-walled rooms that blur the boundaries between inside and out, and gardens that shade in summer and shelter in winter. Changing gender and cultural mixes are met with customised play equipment, and under-loved spaces are regularly re-configured to provide exciting new adventures.

Family-run with the same trusted leadership team in place since the very beginning, Wallaby Childcare has a uniquely accessible structure. Our business has a clear chain of management from the professionals caring for your children, to the Directors overseeing the centre, to our key leaders …direct to the owner of the business.

This means a consistent chain of communication that enables parents to be heard at even the highest level. Just as importantly, it means a consistent management approach for our staff that provides the best support in their mission to care for your children.

At Wallaby Childcare, we understand that food is a very personal thing and we take a personal approach; whether that’s vigilance on allergies and intolerances, recognition of cultural and religious preferences, or respecting individual dietary preferences.

That’s why every centre has a qualified chef on-site throughout the day preparing hot meals and cool snacks with a warm heart. Our kitchen staff all have a passion for cooking and a genuine interest in cooking for children. To work with us, they must be experienced in developing a rotating menu for children aged 6 weeks to 6 years, and be adept (and creative) at catering for allergies and intolerances.

But it’s not just about creating fresh, tasty and nutritious meals and snacks. At Wallaby Childcare, we believe making good food can be good for the local community as well. All our chefs personally source and prepare their food from local sources. The fruit and veggies come from the local market, bread is baked close by, and authentic ingredients to suit multi-cultural tastes are sourced from neighbourhood specialty stores. We believe the best way to satisfy the appetites of our children is to keep their tastes close to home!

Our children come from all over the world, they have a range of abilities and a diversity of family situations…just like us.

At Wallaby Childcare, we draw our staff from where we are based, they are of all ages and genders and all sorts of families. Our staff are employed with clear forethought on a centre by centre basis, that means each centre’s team naturally reflects the community of its families and their lives.

But it’s not enough to mirror the world that our children live in. At Wallaby our commitment to inclusivity means actively engaging with all the many ways children encounter differences in their world. From a standard curriculum that sees individual plans and objectives for every child (whatever their ability), to access to funding for interpreters through FKA Children’s Service, to encouraging parents to share their talents and experiences, Wallaby Childcare offers a wide welcome!