Bright Early Learning Centre - Glen Waverley

Update (20-Nov): *Start* Our daughter is now in primary school and we now have our 3.5 year old son going to Bright. While there have been a few changes since our daughter was there, we are just as happy as we were on day 1. Mei, Vincent and Jenny are an amazing leadership team for the centre and Prabha, Stephanie (who was also our daughter's educator), Amy and all the amazing educators do great work with our son 😊. Thank you for everything you do, we are grateful for your amazing team. *End* My wife and I visited Bright when looking for a centre closer to home for our daughter who had just turned 3. As we both work full time and our daughter would be spending 5 days there, it was important to us that we felt confident. During our visit numerous things made us feel confident straight away. 1. The centre is managed by the owners who are closely involved with the staffing and running of the centre. We really liked that aspect and believed that not only it meant a much more stable environment, it would also cultivate a team of motivated and committed staff. 2. There is a good cultural diversity. After we parked the car, a few girls around our daughter’s age saw us from the outdoor play area and waved at us enthusiastically. We were positive our daughter would be able to make friends easily at the centre. 3. The rooms are clean and well equipped. We noticed a lot of thought and care was put into the rooms from the variety of toys and the detailed decoration. 4. Parking and traffic is great and not affected by peak hour traffic. Easy access both drop off and pick up. At her previous centre, it took our daughter about 3 months to finally stop crying profusely at drop off. We were anxious about her reaction to change, however Mei and Vincent provided the opportunity for us to be involved in her orientation (I spent some time at an excursion with them). This time, it only took her a few days, she was immediately taken with the new toys at orientation and liked the idea of “going to new childcare”. She was introduced a buddy to help her settle in. She would come home and tell us about what she learnt and how much fun she had that day. She has since made many friends and even a “best friend” who we organise play dates outside of childcare. She also loves the food there and has multiple serves everyday. One big difference we noticed at pick up is that kids are often sitting in a circle with the main educator ,Stephanie, playing games, reading and singing. This is very different from the previous childcare where kids are just off playing on their own. Although free play is also great for development, I strongly believe that this helps with inclusiveness and give kids the tools to then make friends and play together during free play. I can also see that educators make a lot more effort at this centre in education even right down to pick up time. 9 months in and we cannot be happier. Well done Mei, Vincent and all educators and staff for running a great centre.