ECEC Provider in Focus – Inspired EC

Inspired Family Day Care is an established family day care (FDC) scheme with a network of family day care providers located in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, and is an arm of the Inspired EC offering.

 

What is the history of Inspired EC?

 

The Inspired story began in 2008 when Inspired EC was co-founded by Tash Treveton and Nicole Halton, who had formed an instant connection when they began working together in a preschool room back in 2003.

 

In 2013 Tash and Nicole were presenting a workshop on risky play at a conference. The audience of family day care educators loved the content of the workshop, but their number one comment was “our scheme won’t let us do that.”

 

Despite Tash and Nicole’s initial response of “pester your scheme”, educators remained reticent, and asked the duo to start their own family day care scheme. As it wasn’t the first time people had suggested the pair take this route, they reflected on what it could look like to develop a family day care service that was committed to supporting educators to explore their natural environments and communities, to encourage healthy risk taking, and to embrace the uniqueness of each educator, home and community, and took the plunge. 

 

In 2014 Inspired Family Day Care was born and the team now offer family day care, outside school hours care, nature program TimberNook, consultancy services and training. 

 

What is Inspired EC’s vision and approach to learning?

 

Inspired EC is passionate about finding new and inspiring ways to work with educators, services and parents around Australia and Internationally, and to ensure that educators and services have the best training, support, resources and opportunities. 

 

The Inspired team want to be recognised as a leader in the FDC Sector, inspiring childhoods filled with wonder, challenge and adventure.

 

Their reach extends around Australia and into New Zealand, The UK, The USA and Asia. 

 

“Just as we believe that children are competent, capable learners, able to hypothesise, problem solve and create – the same applies to the adults that we are lucky enough to work with. We have always said that our role in our work is not to provide educators and services with “the answers” but to support them to consider their unique context and engage in research, reflective practice and evolve to meet the needs of the children, families and communities in which they work,” the pair said. 

 

Are there any unique aspects to the Inspired EC offer?

 

Yes, there are. 

 

In the Children’s Services space, Inspired EC values the authentic relationships it builds with its educators. Mentors and supervisors conduct regular support visits, and provide ongoing assistance with the implementation of programs, the development of practice, and the ongoing professional growth of team members. 

 

Educators have benefits such as:

 

•  Free access to Inspired EC online courses
•  Free attendance at Inspired EC Training and Events
•  Discount on Inspired EC events with International Guests
•  Discount on resources in Inspired EC’s online store
•  Ongoing connection and support from a team of experienced, knowledgeable and   passionate early childhood professionals
• Freedom to explore the natural world and community
•  Being part of a national community dedicated to advocating for the rights of children

 

To learn more about Inspired EC please visit the website, here.