KU Union Children's Centre

University of Sydney, 72 Lander St
DARLINGTON NSW 2008
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  • Monday to Friday 8:00am - 6:00pm
Babies Toddlers Preschoolers NSW Fee Relief – Childcare
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About This Centre Our Team Fees

Our Program and Approach

At our centre 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.

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.

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.

At KU Union, we are proud of providing rich education and care that concentrates on individual children in a family-focussed and supportive way.

Our centre 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 program offers children the opportunity to engage in a wide variety of learning experiences and activities, each specifically designed to promote children’s confidence as capable, active participants in their own learning. Children are presented with a range of activities 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 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 Union, our special interest is Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and culture.

We incorporate this into our program through commemorating Sorry Day, celebrating Reconciliation week and NAIDOC and by inviting Aboriginal community members to come to our centre to talk to the children. We also incorporate this through a variety of activities including art, craft, literacy, numeracy, music, dance, song, games, stories and cooking.

We believe that the children benefit from this interest, because it allows them to expand their knowledge of Australia’s rich indigenous past and present. Including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures as part of our program provides wonderful new insights that come from considering and accommodating a new world view. This will enable children to build a strong cultural competence now and into the future.

Our Quality


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


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

“KU Union is a beautiful, creative and nurturing place for children. My two children have loved their carers and enjoyed the wonderful experience the centre offers. The garden is wonderful and the atmosphere is like a little oasis in the city – we are a real community.” – KU Union parent

“It has been so wonderful to have my children at the centre and so close to work. Thank you for all the wisdom you show, for your kindness and companionship and for the energy and sense of fun that you bring to each day. It has been just amazing to see the children blossom in your care. They have made wonderful friends, been challenged in creative and caring ways and been allowed to let their imaginations run wild.” – KU Union 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.

Our playground is designed to maximise the use of the natural environment and allow children to play and explore as they would in their own backyard. We offer stimulating activities that arouse children’s curiosity and encourage them to choose from a variety of planned experiences, expanding their learning potential.

Our playground includes natural elements such as sand, water, grass, leaves and twigs, and we also offer gross motor experiences such as climbing, jumping and physical play. We foster the holistic development of each child so they feel inspired to create, imagine and play.

Our Reconciliation Action Plan

KU was proud to launch its inaugural Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) in 2016. At KU Union, we began our journey to develop our centre’s RAP in 2018 and we are proud to present it here.

Other Features

Child Care Subsidy
Cooked Meal
Extended Hours
Hat and Sunscreen
Lunch
Transition to School
Public Transport
Play-based Learning
Outdoor Play
Nappies
Storypark
photo of Sharmila Dissanayake

Sharmila Dissanayake

Director

Sharmila is a university qualified early childhood teacher with over 25 years’ experience working with children and babies. She has been working at KU Union since 2022.

Sharmila is passionate about educating children about the natural environment and sustainability, and supporting the team in more sustainable, nature-orientated play-based curriculum. She also believes in increasing awareness in children about the culturally diverse world we live in.

Sharmila was proudly nominated for a Making the KU Difference Award in 2015, and in 2021 she received the award for Making the KU Difference by Representing KU.

Our Team

Our team of early childhood educators are qualified, experienced, caring and highly motivated. Most of our educators have been working with KU for more than 10 years and three staff members have been at KU Union Children's Centre for more than 10 years. 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 Union Children's Centre are:

Community Fees Student Fees
Infants $188.00 $186.00
Toddlers $188.00 $186.00
Preschoolers $184.00 $180.00

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

In an increasingly competitive marketplace, KU has remained very proudly a not-for-profit provider of quality education for more than 125 years. In the past, KU has taken great pride in offering the very best services with minimal increased fees wherever possible. However this year is different, escalating operating costs have meant that in 2024 we are forced to increase fees at a higher rate than we would normally.

The fee increase will ensure we can continue to improve the quality of our services and invest in our highly skilled teachers and educators. We recognise our staff are the heart of KU as they build strong nurturing relationships with children and families whilst continuing to provide a high-quality learning program. These are vital factors that contribute to what is most important to us all – the best outcomes for children.

Overall, KU services hold the highest ratings across the National Quality Standard, with 82% of our services either Excellent or Exceeding, compared to the sector benchmark of 45%.

KU does not distribute our profits to shareholders or send them offshore.

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 www.dese.gov.au.

NSW Start Strong Fee Relief

From 2024, the NSW government has provided additional fee relief funding, based on $2,110 per eligible 4 year old child attending a preschool 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 Start Strong fee relief will not impact CCS entitlements.

If your child is 3 years old and not yet 4 years old on, or before 31 July 2024 and enrolled at an eligible long day care service, you will receive up to $500 in fee relief.

Start Strong fee relief funding is for children who are 4 years old on or before 31 July 2024, and can only be accessed in one service. This could either be in a community preschool or long day care service. If you have a child who may be eligible, please discuss this with your service Director.

The NSW Department of Education requires parents to sign the ‘Fee Relief Declaration and Consent’ form at the time of enrolment. Your eligibility for Start Strong fee relief Funding is conditional upon signing this form.

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