Family and community involvement

Family is a child’s first and most influential teacher. We value family relationships as the starting point of all children’s journeys. We believe that having a strong connection with family from the very beginning lays the foundation for a child’s development to evolve and grow. At Friends Childcare, our relationships are with the family, and the centre’s orientation policy is based solely on the theory of attachment and the circle of security.

Theorist Robyn Dolby believes that “the circle of security is a way of thinking about children that enables families and educators to look beyond their immediate behaviour and think about how to meet their relationship needs. This approach fits well with childcare practice, in which the quality of the relationships you make with children, the way you support their relationships with peers and the partnerships you develop with their families, are crucial to a child’s learning and development”. 

Friends Childcare Centre is very much community-focused. We are active participants in our local community. We are involved in many local community events, including The Lantern Parade, and excursions within the local community to the library, gallery, local schools, waste recovery centre, sea bird rescue and sleeping lizard. We visit residents at St Joseph’s Aged Care Facility, who are also on campus.

The centre welcomes university, Tafe and school students for work placement and practicums. We acknowledge and celebrate cultural events like Harmony Day, NAIDOC Week, and winter solstice. The centre has fostered koalas from the local organisation Friends of the Koala, and we have a strong connection with local Indigenous community, including Uncle Gilbert Laurie. He is a regular at the centre, teaching the children and educators about the traditional Bundjalung language and culture.