New Guardian Childcare’s To BE Me program connects families, educators and children through personalised learning

To BE Me, designed to make children’s learning journeys more visible, meaningful and inspiring for families, educators and allied health partners across its 190 centres nationwide.

 

Unveiled as a culmination of years of research and observation, the program introduces an age-and-stage curriculum that connects children’s observed behaviours to measurable progress in early literacy, numeracy, social, and physical development.

 

Guardian Childcare CEO Warren Bright described the program as a “jewel in the crown” of the Guardian experience.

 

“We think To BE Me will make a child’s learning and development adventure more visible and memorable than ever before. The birth to school years are some of the most important years in a child’s life, and this program brings that experience alive in a truly inspiring way,” Mr Bright said.

 

A key feature of the program is each child’s My Learning & Development Book, a personalised keepsake that tracks a child’s learning, friendships, and milestones from babyhood through to school age. This visual documentation is also proving to be a valuable tool for educators, families and external specialists supporting children with additional needs.

 

 

At Guardian Childcare Howlong, Centre Manager Rachelle and her team have seen positive responses from both families and professionals since implementing the program.

 

“ToBeMe has supported our team to understand children’s learning and development in a more comprehensive manner as now they can all visually see children’s development and if children are requiring extra support to achieve these learning pathways they can now plan for these collaboratively with families and each other,” Rachelle said.

 

“Family communication has improved immensely using ToBeMe. Educators are now more confident in communicating to families more than what the child has done within that day. It helps to link for families the learning that comes from play each day. Families are being told what their child has been learning and their development using the pathways, families understand where the child is at and how we can support them in achieving their goals in a more collaborative way.”

 

Parent Erin Harris, whose three children have attended the centre since 2019, described how the program helped her understand her daughter Cleo’s readiness to transition to a new room.

 

“Our daughter Cleo Harris was in the Toddler program, educators identified that she was developmentally ready to transition into the Junior Preschool room. I was unsure if she was ready as I didn’t know what to look out for and she was settled in her room.

 

 

The team used their new Development Pathways to communicate to me what she had, in particular the Being A Good Friend and the I am ME pathways. I could see she was emotionally ready for the move. It was so good to be able to see it mapped out for me what she had achieved.”

 

“Using their Moving on Up plan Cleo had a smooth transition into the Junior Preschool program and over the past 3 months Cleo’s development has been amazing as parents to see, she walks into her room every morning and says to her sister ‘look, I show you my name’ at the sign-in station. Educators then communicated to me during this that Cleo is beginning to make marks on paper and also calls drawings by names which means she is achieving the developmental pathway “a writer.”

 

“When I have been talking with the teacher and educators in this program, they always show me Cleo’s pathway book to visualise what Cleo is learning in the program and also discuss how what she has been engaging in supports her learning and development.”

 

“I find the pathway books to be a lovely visual for me as a parent and I enjoy communicating with the teachers of what learning is transferring into the home environment such as Cleo has begun to enjoy attempting to make her own bed, put her belongings into her bag etc.

 

The ToBeMe program has been a lovely addition to the centre, and I am really looking forward to what this book will look like once completed at the end of Cleo’s journey at Guardian Howlong when she is ready for school.”

 

Allied health partners are also reporting benefits.

 

Icaria Health, a team of visiting occupational therapists, speech pathologists and physiotherapists, has used the To BE Me books to better understand each child’s developmental progress and support strategies.

 

As Centre Manager Rachelle noted:

 

“ToBeMe has supported our children that have additional learning needs. We have provided our allied health teams who visit children at our centre regularly the books so they have a better understanding of the curriculum. The feedback from the allied health team was how great it is to showcase and celebrate learning for all children no matter their level of development and also that it can include learning from different perspectives. The allied health team were really excited to partner with our team and be included in supporting the children to achieve the learning pathways.”

 

The launch of To BE Me underscores Guardian’s commitment to creating inclusive, inspiring, and high-quality early learning environments, underpinned by strong family and community partnerships.

 

 

Kathryn Waugh, Guardian’s Chief Quality and Curriculum Officer, explained the broader vision behind ‘To BE Me’:

 

“ToBeMe blends deep knowledge of child development with an understanding of each individual child, their family’s aspirations, and the requirements of the National Quality Standard and the Early Years Learning Framework. It supports the design of creative, inclusive, and innovative curriculum that is responsive rather than prescriptive, where the sky truly is the limit. 

 

“To Be Me makes complex ideas easy to understand, regardless of the varying skills, knowledge, qualifications, and experience across our team. It empowers our educators to be co-constructors of learning alongside each child and their family in a consistent, sustainable, and capability-building way.” 

 

“It’s inclusive, accessible, strength-based, and individualised, and in a way that families can see and understand and support our teams to have rich conversations with each family about their child in a meaningful authentic way. In summary, ToBeMe acts as a bridge between theory and practice, bringing the NQS and EYLF to life in a way that is practical, sustainable, and deeply connected to children, families, and educators.”

 

“While we live in a digital age and actively use platforms like Storypark, alongside a range of other tools to share, document, and communicate with families, there’s something irreplaceable about creating a physical book. In a world where memories can get lost among hundreds of photos on a phone, this book stands apart. It’s a tangible, thoughtful collaboration between families and educators, built over time through observation, reflection, and deep connection. It brings together each child’s unique learning journey into one treasured keepsake that can be held, shared, and remembered.”

 

“Our teams have been instrumental in creating, testing, and piloting To Be Me alongside us. Through this process we have taken their feedback and created resources and tools we know will support them. Because our teams already have a lot of work to do, the learning and development book is easy to use, easy to teach to others, requires minimal writing but supports teams to know children, think deeply about them, plan inspiring, engaging experiences and assess each child’s learning in a curriculum way over time. Our teams have received their very own To Be Me book, team meetings, weekly live Professional Learning sessions, sharing their stories of practice, a monthly newsletter celebrating their successes and achievements, Awards night, reward and recognition system, online professional learning community and many self-serve tools and resources.”

 

The launch of To BE Me reflects Guardian Childcare’s ongoing commitment to elevating early childhood education in Australia. By uniting evidence-based practice with meaningful engagement and accessible tools, the program is poised to make a lasting difference, not only in the lives of children and families, but in how educators approach teaching, learning and collaboration in early years settings.