KU Monash Children's Centre and Kindergarten

1a Holmes Street (Monash University)
Frankston VIC 3199
Get directions
  • Monday to Friday 7:30am - 6:00pm
Babies Toddlers Preschoolers Vic Free Kinder Program

Our Program and Approach

At KU Monash Children’s Centre and Kindergarten, childhood is celebrated. When they play and explore, children's imagination and curiosity are sparked - they enjoy learning and are inspired to continue learning more.

We are dedicated to providing a high-quality education and care service that concentrates on individual children and embraces families as the child’s first educators.

Our play-based program and learning environment intentionally provide opportunities and activities based upon the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework, for your child to learn to socially connect with peers, their environment and their community. 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.

We observe and record children’s development, interests and strengths and plan the learning environment based on this knowledge. This approach facilitates in children a lifelong love of learning and curiosity.

Our service is a welcoming and nurturing space where each child is immersed in a rich tapestry of educationally interactive experiences – a space where children are supported to be their own, unique selves, growing and developing a sense of belonging and empowerment.

Our educational program offers children the opportunity to engage in a wide variety of learning experiences, each specifically designed to promote children’s confidence as capable, active participants in their own learning. Children are presented with a range of experiences including gardening, arts and crafts, music and movement, physical play, block building, sand and water play, science experiments, early numeracy activities such as counting and measurement, and early literacy activities such as reading, drawing and writing.

We greatly value the strong relationships between our staff, children, families and our community, and we look forward to the opportunity of including your family in the life of our service.


Our Focus Area

In addition to the high quality well-rounded educational programs we offer, all KU centres are encouraged to develop an area of focus.

At KU Monash Children's Centre and Kindergarten, we have focus on the development of strong, respectful and reciprocal relationships with children and their families.

We build this approach into our program through the implementation of the key educator approach. We feel that the children benefit from this focus because continuity and consistency of care between the family and educators establishes familiarity for children, building a sense of trust and connection with educators and the service. This in turn leads to children’s positive engagement with educators, resources and learning.

The key educator approach assigns one educator to a small group of children within each room. This educator will be the link between home and service. The key educator will meet each individual child’s specific needs while building connection and relationship. Children remain in their room and age group for the calendar year and at the beginning of each new year will transfer with an educator to this next age group. This allows peer groups and educators to remain connected during their time at the service.


Our Quality

Our service is planned to open 15 January 2024 and will be independently assessed by the Department of Education and Training Victoria under the National Quality Standards.

However what matters most is what our families think....

“Experienced, patient caring educators. Professional admin staff and nutritious meals. The team at KU are amazing. We are a very happy KU family and would recommend to other families living in the area. 5 stars.” - KU Parent

Other Features

Education for Sustainability
Storypark
University Qualified Educators
Transition to School
Public Transport
Play-based Learning
Parking
Nappies
Experienced Staff
Hat and Sunscreen
Extended Hours
Cooked Meal
Child Care Subsidy
Director

Julia Palhares Gontijo

Our Team

Our team of early childhood educators are qualified, experienced, caring and highly motivated. All hold specialist qualifications in early childhood education. We believe that the positive interactions children have with our staff are the most important component of our high-quality program.

The daily fees for 2024 at KU Monash Children's Centre and Kindergarten are:

Age Group Amount
Infants $145
Toddlers $145
Preschoolers $142

This is the full daily fee. If you are entitled to Child Care Subsidy, this will reduce the daily fee you are charged.

Monash University students and staff receive a 10% discount on fees.

In an increasingly competitive marketplace, KU has remained very proudly a not-for-profit provider of quality education for more than 125 years. Like all early childhood education providers, our costs continue to be subject to market factors such as CPI, salary costs, Government funding and the requirements of the National Quality Framework.

Our fees are designed to cover the operational costs of delivering the unique KU learning experience, and to ensure KU can continue delivering those experiences for many years to come. Any surplus we may make is reinvested into our local staff, continually improving the quality of our services, and ensuring our long-term sustainability. KU does not distribute our profits to shareholders or send them offshore.

Victorian Kindergarten Funding

Our Victorian long day care services offer an integrated kindergarten program funded by the Victorian Department of Education and Training. If you have a child aged 3 or 4 years, you may elect to use your kindergarten funding at our service. Further information can be provided by the Service Director.

From 2024, the Victorian Government will be providing Free Kinder funding, based on $2,050 for a 15-hour program per eligible 3 and 4 year old child attending a kindergarten program within a long day care service. This funding is applied as a weekly credit to the gap fee after CCS has been applied, or to full fees where a family does not receive CCS. The Free Kinder payment will not impact CCS entitlements.

Free Kinder funding is for children who are 3 and 4 years old in the two years before attending formal schooling and can only be accessed in one service. This could either be in a sessional kindergarten or long day care service. If you have a child who may be eligible, please discuss this with your Service Director.

The Victorian Department of Education and Training requires parents to sign the declaration form at the time of enrolment. Your eligibility for Free Kinder funding is conditional upon signing this form.

About Child Care Subsidy

Child Care Subsidy is the main payment to assist families with the costs of childcare. It is paid directly to the childcare provider and passed onto families as a fee reduction wherever families meet the criteria. The level of subsidy you receive, as well as the number of hours you will be subsidised, depends on your individual family’s circumstances.

If you do not already have one, you will need a MyGov account linked to Centrelink to claim any subsidy you may be eligible for, and to find out more information, please contact Centrelink on 136 150 or visit https://www.dese.gov.au.