Former Citiplace Child Care Centre has new tennant – Mirabilia Early Learning Centre

A family-owned early learning centre with a focus on learning through play will open at the former site of Citiplace Child Care Centre in Perth’s Wellington Street later this month. 

 

Citiplace closed in September 2022, after being operated by the Council for more than 30 years. At the time, the Council said the service had been running at a significant loss and was not at full occupancy. 

 

The new service – Mirabilia Early Learning Centre and Kindergarten – will be the third service operated by owners Ditya Kusuma and Clarissa de Fretes. The pair applied 10 months ago to lease the space from the City of Perth.

 

The name Mirabilia means ‘miracles’, and Mr Kusuma hopes the new service will support families who work or live in the Perth CBD. Extensive renovations to the space began in April, and the service now boasts a concept nature playground, new lighting and flooring and open planned spaces.

 

“Our philosophy is that we believe children learn lots of things through play. We are structured, but we believe that we just try and have fun with the children so that hopefully they will learn and become confident and hopefully become one of our future leaders,” Mr Kusuma shared with local news source Perth Now.

 

Ms de Fretes said that the service plans to connect with local schools to support children on their transition to primary school, and that they arrive at school as people who are excited about learning. 

 

“All of the educators have been trained to know how we can extend on children’s interests because we believe that when they’re interested in something that they love doing, they will learn more,” she said. 

 

Read the original coverage of this story here.