Nazareth Early Childhood Centre SA’s seventh Excellent service

Nazareth Early Childhood Centre in the South Australian suburb of Findon has become the seventh early childhood education and care (ECEC) service in the state to secure an Excellent rating from the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA). 

In covering the achievement, SA’s Regulatory Authority, the Education Standards Board (ESB) commended the service for going “above and beyond” in many areas, including collaborations with universities to give children access to speech pathology and nutrition services, offering Italian lessons for three- to five-year-olds and having meals ready to send home for families in need.

Early Years Director Natasha Walc said achieving the Excellent rating was extremely affirming, for herself and her team. 

“We certainly feel rewarded for our dedication, hard work and commitment to continuous improvement,” she said.

“We place an importance on going above and beyond the Nazareth gates by making conscious efforts to influence the wider education sector and community, whether it be through our social justice initiatives or presenting at various professional forums.”

The centre is part of the broader Nazareth Catholic Community organisation, meaning that children and families from the centre can be easily linked in with services offered by Nazareth, and other community services.

“Our initiatives are borne from our aspirations, affirming our faith, and particularly, our purpose: to love one another,” Ms Walc said.

“We hold an unwavering belief that every person is of inestimable value and are guided by Mary Mackillop to ‘never see a need without doing something about it’.”

Partnerships initiated and fostered by Nazareth reflect the belief of the organisation, that learning must be holistic, inclusive, life-giving and life-long.

Further information about attaining an Excellent rating, the highest an education and care service can achieve under the National Quality Framework, is available here.