KU Mayfield AMEP

Shop 1/161 Maitland Road
MAYFIELD NSW 2304
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Babies Toddlers Preschoolers

KU and the Adult Migrant English Program

For over 30 years, KU has proudly provided childcare under the Australian Government funded Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) to assist parents to complete their English classes, while children have the opportunity to engage with peers in play based learning environments.

The AMEP is a free service to help eligible migrants and humanitarian entrants with low English levels to improve their English language skills and settle into Australia. AMEP is funded by the Australian Government Department of Home Affairs. For more information about AMEP Program delivery please click here.

Free child care placements for children under school age are provided to the families for the duration of their face to face English classes. The children can remain enrolled under the AMEP funding until their families reach vocational English.

For families newly arrived in Australia, this is often their first experience of childcare. Our centres are welcoming to all families and embrace cultural diversity. This positive childcare experience provides a settlement springboard for families and children to take the next steps into participating and engaging in the broader Australian community.

KU is proud to work in partnership with the Navitas Skilled Futures and Max Solutions to support the settlement needs of AMEP clients. For all eligible AMEP clients who have children under school age, KU manages the provision of childcare through on-site or mainstream childcare services. There is no child care cost to AMEP clients for childcare provided through the AMEP for the duration of their AMEP tuition.

KU manages six AMEP onsite childcare centres with locations in Bankstown, Cabramatta, Canberra, Fairfield, Liverpool and Mayfield.

Please refer your AMEP childcare enquiry to your nearest Navitas Skilled Futures English College.


Our Program and Approach

At our centre, early childhood and children’s cultures are celebrated each day. When they play and explore, children's imagination and curiosity is sparked - they enjoy learning, and are inspired to continue learning more. Our educators encourage families to maintain their first language and we match our educator’s languages with the language needs of each AMEP service.

Our play-based program intentionally provides opportunities and activities based upon the Early Years Learning Framework, for your child to discover and pursue their own interests and strengths. Our program is both multi-lingual and culturally appropriate.

We encourage children to laugh, think, question and learn. Their sense of self and confidence grows as they make connections with each other, and build warm, trusting relationships with our team.


Our Quality

Strong relationships with our migrant families are of utmost importance to us. We are very proud of the high quality program we provide to young children, however what matters most is what our families think....

“This was our first experience with child care in Australia. It was so important to have child care onsite with educators who were able to speak our language. This allowed the family and staff to have meaningful daily communication about the child. The exchange of information is a necessary component of building trusting relationships with the community.” - KU AMEP parent

"Special thanks to all KU staff for their great support during the time my children were enrolled at a KU AMEP centre. It was amazing, not only for myself, but also for my children. My children were really excited to go to childcare and I was relaxed going to class to improve my English. I have received great support for my children to be well educated and for myself to be relaxed emotionally. I received good advice from the Director. I would like to thank the Director and her staff very much for their great support. My husband and i will never forget their efforts and their contribution for my family." - KU AMEP parent

Our Environment

Each KU AMEP centre is unique in its cultural diversity and languages. 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 in our AMEP settings.

Some of our centres have a beautiful outdoor environment which is seen as an extension of our indoor learning environment. A range of experiences are offered outside which may include vegetable gardens. These experiences provide the opportunities for children to learn about healthy eating practices.

Our Program is fully funded by the Australian Government Department of Home Affairs and it is free for eligible migrant families.


photo of Kate Bailey

Kate Bailey

Coordinator

Kate is a university qualified early childhood teacher with over 10 years’ experience working with children and babies. She has been working at KU AMEP Mayfield since March 2021. Prior to this, Kate was Assistant Director and Educational Leader of a long day care centre in Newcastle. Kate has had extensive experience working with children from many different backgrounds and cultures, working as a teacher at an international school in Sydney and also in London.

Kate has a passion for authentic play-based learning and embedding each child’s interests into the program through both spontaneous and planned experiences. Kate understands that communicating with children is not just with words, but as Malaguzzi says, through a hundred languages.

Our Team

Our team of early childhood educators are qualified, experienced, caring and highly motivated. All hold specialist qualifications in early childhood education. We have a higher ratio of educators to children than is required by the National Quality Standards and legislation, to help your child feel a greater sense of belonging. Our educators are able to speak a variety of community languages and provide children with culturally responsive care. We believe that the positive interactions children have with our staff are the most important component of our high quality program.

All our staff have experience and knowledge of working with diverse communities.

They have a thorough knowledge of the needs of newly arrived migrants and plan a program which is both sensitive and culturally appropriate.