KU Osborne Park Preschool

2 Osborne Place (off Richardson Street East)
LANE COVE NSW 2066
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  • Monday to Friday 8:00am - 4:00pm
Preschoolers NSW Fee Relief – Preschool

Our Program and Approach

At KU Osborne Park, childhood is celebrated. When they play and explore, children's imagination and curiosity is sparked – they enjoy learning, and are inspired to continue learning more.

The development of our program is guided by the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF). We follow a holistic approach to programming, based on developmentally and culturally appropriate practice, the child development theories of Piaget, Vygotsky and others, and the emergent (child-centred) curriculum. During the day, children will be involved in a range of both child-directed and teacher-selected activities.

The basis of learning for young children is through play. Play is a medium used by children to translate experiences into something internally meaningful to them. Play clarifies concepts, facilitates social development and creates periods of satisfaction and delight. Through play, children have opportunities to explore, investigate, create, imagine, problem-solve and make decisions.

We aim to establish immediate rapport and a sense of belonging in our community, as families arrive through the front door.

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


Our Special Interest

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

At KU Osborne Park, our special interest is nature play.

Nature play is a natural fit for us considering our large outdoor environment and our natural bush surroundings. Our special interest is incorporated into our program through activities such as the mud pit and our regular bushwalking program. Our natural playground and surrounding bushscape provides children with greater learning opportunities and encourages children to develop positive, caring feelings about the natural environment.

At KU Osborne Park, we believe children are naturally drawn to active outdoor play. Play in nature provides many benefits for children including improved immunity, physical activity, resistance to stress and behavioural issues, increased self confidence, improved muscle strength and coordination as well as improved language and collaborative skills.


Our Quality


Our centre has been independently assessed by the NSW Department of Education under the National Quality Standards, and are proud to be rated as Meeting the National Quality Standard.


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

“When I walk into KU Osborne Park Preschool, it’s like I’m walking into a magical kingdom. I might see a snow leopard in her cave of wooden blocks, a swaggle of policemen with cardboard handcuffs or bounty hunters collecting raindrops in buckets. It is wonderful to see my son flourishing in an environment where learning and discovery are so highly prized.” - KU Osborne Park parent

“My daughter is in her second year at KU Osborne Park. She adores the educators and loves that there's a wide variety of activities to choose from. She enjoys playing in the mud pit, jumping on the trampoline and balance boards, building with magna tiles and doing the table top games like visual matrices and puzzles. Above all the children just seem to love it and thrive in the natural environment. The teachers are so committed, and the children have lots of space to burn off all their energy!” – KU Osborne Park 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, welcoming learning environments for children – whatever our setting.

Nestled on the edge of the local bush reserve, our playground is designed to allow children to explore nature and discover the ever-changing natural environment. We believe children need opportunities to dig in the mud pit, climb trees, discover and learn about insects and living things, and enjoy connecting with nature in a natural setting.

As well as our wonderful natural environment, our indoor space offers opportunities for children to engage with materials from natural and constructed environments. We offer experiences where children are able to self-select, with a variety of open ended materials for imaginative play. 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 KU Osborne Park team were awarded the KU Marcia Burgess Award in 2022, for demonstrating an outstanding commitment to fostering inclusion and enriching the lives of vulnerable children and their families.

The annual Making the 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. The perpetual KU Marcia Burgess Award is our most prestigious award, named in honour of one of KU’s trail-blazing luminaries of social inclusion and child wellbeing


Our Reconciliation Action Plan

KU was proud to launch its inaugural Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) in 2016. At KU Osborne Park, we began our journey to develop our centre’s RAP in 2019 and we are proud to present it here.


Other Features

Designed Centre
Hat and Sunscreen
Transition to School
Public Transport
Play-based Learning
Parking
Outdoor Play
Storypark
University Qualified Educators
Experienced Staff
Award

photo of Lisa Milham

Lisa Milham

Director

Lisa is a university qualified early childhood teacher with over 10 years’ experience working with children and babies. She has a Masters degree in teaching and has been working at Osborne Park since 2016.

Lisa is passionate about nature and the great outdoors and through her work with children, strives to teach them about sustainability and caring for the environment in order to instill in them a love for the earth.

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 educators are the most important component of our high quality program.

Our team of educators are highly experienced with some having been at the centre for over 20 years. At KU Osborne Park, we are passionate about fostering children’s dispositions of curiosity, enthusiasm, persistence and confidence through the establishment and development of safe, secure, trusting and supportive relationships. Interactions between children and educators promote children’s autonomy, resilience, self-esteem and wellbeing. We are passionate about ensuring learning is meaningful, authentic and importantly, fun.

The daily fees for 2024 at KU Osborne Park Preschool are:

Fee Amount
4 year old Start Strong Fee Relief fee $8.50
3 year old Start Strong Fee Relief fee $38.00
Start Strong Equity Fee Relief fee FREE
Unfunded fee $104.50

Which fee will you pay?

The NSW Government is committed to ensuring that all children in NSW can participate in 600 hours of quality preschool education in the year before school, no matter where they live or what their circumstances are.

To ensure that affordability is not a barrier for families with young children, the NSW Government provides Start Strong funding making 600 hours, or 15 hours per week, of preschool participation in the two years before school more affordable. In KU preschools, this 15 hours per week is met by enrolling for two days per week.

Start Strong Free Preschool (3 year olds and 4 year olds)

From 2024, the NSW government has provided additional fee relief funding, based on $4,220 per eligible child. This enables NSW preschools to reduce the daily fee as much as possible, within the Start Strong funding parameters.

This funding is for children who turn 3 or 4 years of age by 31 July in the preschool year and are enrolled in a preschool program for 15 hours per week. Across KU Preschools, the ‘15 hours’ is usually met by enrolling in two x 7.5 hour days per week.

Start Strong fee relief can only be accessed at one service, either a preschool or long day care service. This ensures as many children as possible can access affordable early childhood education.

Start Strong Equity Fee Relief Fee

The NSW government provides further funding for children who meet the Start Strong Equity funding criteria. If you think you may be eligible for Equity funding, please speak with the Preschool Director further about this.

Unfunded Fee

The Unfunded Fee is charged when a family has chosen to access the Start Strong fee relief at another community preschool or long day care service.