Our Environments.

Our Village.

Baby Bears

Our Baby Bears Room maintains an educator-to-child ratio of 1:4, with three educators caring for up to 12 children aged from birth to 2 years. We provide a warm, home-like environment where children feel safe, secure, and supported to learn through exploration, play, and meaningful relationships.

Our educators follow each child's individual routines, interests, and developmental needs, fostering confidence, independence, and a strong sense of belonging. We offer rich sensory experiences that encourage curiosity, creativity, and early learning.

Children rest in a calm and cosy sleep space, with individual sleep routines developed in partnership with families. We use floor beds for sleep, providing a safe, comfortable environment that supports children's independence and wellbeing.

Families provide meals in a lunchbox, while we supply compostable nappies throughout the day. We proudly support and welcome breastfeeding at the service.

Children enjoy daily access to our outdoor learning environment in all weather, with regular visits to our bush space whenever possible. These experiences encourage exploration, nature play, physical development, and a connection with the natural world.

Toddle Bears

Our Toddler Bears Room maintains an educator-to-child ratio of 1:5, with three educators caring for up to 15 children each day, providing a nurturing and engaging environment for children aged 2 to 3 years. During this stage of development, children are becoming more independent, confident, and curious about the world around them.

Our educators create meaningful learning experiences that encourage exploration, problem-solving, creativity, and social interaction through play. We support children's emerging communication, self-help skills, and emotional development while fostering a strong sense of belonging and wellbeing.

Daily routines are flexible and responsive to each child's interests and developmental needs, encouraging independence while providing the security of consistent, caring relationships.

Children enjoy daily outdoor play in all weather and regularly visit our bush space, where they can explore nature, take appropriate risks, build confidence, and develop a lifelong connection with the natural environment.

Big Bears

Our Big Bears Room maintains an educator-to-child ratio of 1:10, with two educators caring for up to 18 children each day, providing a stimulating and supportive learning environment for children aged 3 to 4 years. At this stage, children are developing greater independence, confidence, and a strong desire to explore, create, and collaborate.

Our educators provide engaging, play-based learning experiences that promote language, early literacy and numeracy, problem-solving, creativity, and social skills. Children are encouraged to make choices, build resilience, develop self-help skills, and become active participants in their learning as they prepare for their Preschool year.

Daily routines are flexible and responsive to each child's interests, strengths, and developmental needs, supporting a strong sense of belonging, wellbeing, and confidence.

Kinder Bears

Our Kinder Bears Room maintains an educator-to-child ratio of 1:10, with two educators caring for up to 20 children each day in our program for children aged 4 to 5 years. Our funded Kindergarten program provides a rich, play-based learning environment that supports children in developing the skills, confidence, and independence needed for a successful transition to school.

Our educators deliver engaging experiences that foster early literacy, numeracy, critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving while encouraging collaboration, resilience, and respectful relationships. Through intentional teaching and child-led learning, children are supported to become confident, capable, and active learners.

Daily routines are flexible and responsive to children's interests, strengths, and developmental needs, promoting independence, responsibility, and a strong sense of belonging. Our program encourages children to take on new challenges, build self-confidence, and develop lifelong learning skills.

Families provide meals in a lunchbox each day. Children enjoy daily outdoor play in all weather and regularly explore our bush space, where they engage in nature play, investigate their environment, take appropriate risks, and strengthen their connection with the natural world.

Our Bush Space

At Gaia's Nest, our bush space is an extension of our learning environment and an important part of every child's day. Every room visits the bush each day, no matter the weather, including our youngest Baby Bears. We believe children thrive when they have regular opportunities to connect with nature, challenge themselves, and learn through unhurried outdoor play.

To ensure children's safety during our bush adventures, every child wears a high-visibility vest featuring the Gaia's Nest logo. Each room has its own colour-coded vest, allowing educators to complete head counts quickly and efficiently while children explore.

Our bush space is designed to encourage imagination, resilience, problem-solving, and confidence. Children climb over the many large logs scattered throughout the area, transport materials with our trucks, and use wooden pallets and cable reels to create their own obstacle courses, cubbies, stages, or anything else their imagination inspires. On some days, the skateboards come out, giving children the opportunity to safely ride down the grassy hill while developing balance, coordination, and risk assessment skills.

Throughout the cooler months, we gather around our fire circle to keep warm, share stories, cook simple foods, and enjoy the sense of community that comes from sitting together outdoors. We also have a large canvas tent where children can rest or sleep when appropriate, embracing the peaceful sounds of nature as part of their day.

Our adventures often extend beyond the main bush space as we head out on regular bush walks to favourite destinations such as The Fallen Down Tree and Mud Hill. These excursions encourage curiosity, exploration, and a deep respect for the natural environment while giving children opportunities to challenge themselves physically, build resilience, and develop a lifelong connection with nature.