Our Program and Approach
The Joey Club Sydney is a Qantas work-based long-day care centre operated by KU Children’s Services.
Our work with children is based on the belief that the early childhood years are of great significance in a young person’s life and foundational in fostering the natural dispositions of children to become a life-long learner.
Our approach to learning is framed by our ability to construct a curriculum that is thoughtfully planned, culturally and linguistically responsive, challenging, engaging, contextual and one that promotes positive learning outcomes for diverse learners.
The implementation of our curriculum is guided by a set of principles that have been chosen to reflect the centres beliefs about how children learn, the role families play in children’s learning, the role of the environment, the importance of relationships, as well as children’s own identity within the context of their families, culture, community and as global citizens.
The Joey Club Sydney is a place where children’s thinking, learning and work is honored and made visible to families and to the wider Qantas community. We create communities of learning amongst children where play-based and project approaches to learning are highly favoured, providing children with a variety of opportunities to develop learning dispositions and skills such as curiosity, creativity, decision-making, exploration, language and self-expression.
We are particularly proud of the partnership that we have developed with our families and our Qantas community. Being a work-based service, we have an emphatic and highly responsive position to understanding the complexities of working families; the implications and demand that this can have on their children. Our reputation within our local community is recognised for providing a rich education and care program that is responsive, reciprocal and relevant to the lives of our children, family and community.
Our strength lies in our culturally and linguistically diverse team of educators, who have embodied the significant work of building sincere and meaningful relationships with the children, families and our Qantas community.
We greatly value the strong relationships between our educators, children and families and we look forward to welcoming you to The Joey Club Sydney family.
We Focus On
In addition to the high quality well-rounded programs we offer, all KU centres are also encouraged to develop an area of focus.
At The Joey Club, our focus is making children’s learning visible through documentation.
At The Joey Club, we believe that the image of the child should be celebrated as a capable, competent and active participant in society, whose work should be cherished and reflective. Through our documentation, we strive to honor our children’s ideas, feelings and views of the world, providing our families and educators with the opportunity to collaboratively broaden our unique perspectives and understanding about children’s learning.
Guided by such beliefs, we are committed to ensure children’s learning is made visible through our documentation.
We do this through creating individual E-portfolios documenting children’s learning, the use of ‘Storypark’, which has provided us with the opportunity to further enhance families’ engagement and participation in their children’s learning, visual displays within the centre and throughout all the rooms and an annual collaborative ‘World Environment Day Art Inquiry projects’ with our Qantas community, which encourages children to explore social and global issues of importance to them.
Our educators are committed to providing documentation that highlights the way children learn and make sense of their world. We are continually exploring new methods to enhance our documentation of children’s learning, through the use of technology and multi-modal ways of presenting children’s thinking and learning. We are confident that we are making this more meaningful and visible for children, families and community.
We believe the children benefit from this because it stimulates children’s thinking and enriches their ongoing learning.
Our Quality
The Joey Club Sydney has been independently assessed by the NSW Department of Education and Training under the National Quality Standards, and are proud to be rated as Exceeding in all aspects of the National Quality Standard.
Our commitment to high quality was also acknowledged by the department and the Overall Summary Comments are outlined below:
“Your service is commended on its achievements in providing quality outcomes for children. In particular, an educational program that responds to children's interests and scaffolds their learning, careful planning and reflective practice, establishing and maintaining positive relationships with children and families, a willingness to collaborate with families and the community to enhance children's learning and wellbeing, and effective leadership and management of the service demonstrate the commitment to quality by educators at your service.”
However what matters most is what our families think...
"The relationship my children have with their teachers really reflects the care and support the teachers give the children. My daughters have so much trust in their teachers, allowing me to have the confidence to know they are well looked after. My daughters are consistently learning new things. I am amazed daily with the amount of confidence that my daughter has to learn new things and apply the learnings at home - a true reflection of the quality of education at The Joey Club." - The Joey Club Sydney parent
“The comfort in knowing our little one is being looked after by such a wonderful team is priceless. Thank you for being a fun, safe, warm and caring centre. What would we do without you! A heartfelt thank you to all the staff who do such a wonderful job.” - The Joey Club Sydney parent
Our Environment
Each KU centre is unique. The best outcomes for children are created within relationships and interactions between children and staff, and children and their families, not within four walls. We work hard to create beautiful, interesting, homelike learning environments for children – whatever our setting.
The Joey Club Sydney is a modern, state-of-the-art centre, purpose built to the highest standards. The centre was first opened in July 2003 and has continued to grow to become an integral part of the Qantas professional community. The environment includes both indoor and outdoor spaces that have been architecturally designed with unique features, which encourages children to explore and learn within a bright and spacious environment.
Our centre is licensed to cater for 73 children per day and is located on the Qantas campus in Mascot.
Learning spaces and curriculum decisions are intended to challenge and engage children and at the same time provide them with a sense of stability and predictability. The learning environment is also set up in a way that promotes positive interactions and is reflective of our high regards to play and to relationships, as stated in our centre philosophy and curriculum statement. Our customised facilities include a separate family meeting room, which is available to families and educators to utilise for formal and informal meetings.
Our playground is designed to allow children to explore nature and discover the natural environment. We want children to be able to dig in the mud, climb trees, discover and learn about insects and enjoy connecting with nature. The many activities we offer enable children to immerse themselves in the natural elements of their surroundings and feel inspired to create, imagine and play.
Our Awards
The Annual KU Difference Awards were introduced a number of years ago, as a way of acknowledging KU staff who have made a significant contribution to KU. These annual awards are open to all KU staff, at any level (either individual staff or a team), who have worked above and beyond their normal duties.
In 2018, The Joey Club Sydney Educator Thi Hoa Nguyen was awarded the Making the KU Difference for Children Award.
Our Reconciliation Action Plan
KU was proud to launch its inaugural Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) in 2016. At The Joey Club, we began our journey to develop our centre’s RAP in 2018 and we are proud to present it here.
