Yvette Cox

Centre Manager - First Grammar Wyoming

"Communication is key when it comes to building and maintaining a good working relationship with our families."

I began my career in early childhood education and care in 2015 and started working at First Grammar Wyoming in 2015. I hold a Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care. I have a first aid certificate, CPR and Anaphylaxis, as well as food handling and child protection.

I have worked for three other G8 centres around the central coast and I have gained a variety of experience working in Nursery, Early Learner age group and Preschool Rooms. I have worked as the Room Leader and Educational Leader, alongside other Diploma, Cert 3 and ECT trained educators. I have been involved in many aspects including reviewing programs for indoor and outdoor areas, implementing sustainability concepts and embedding cultural diversity, as well as guiding and overseeing trainees and students. It has really given me a great deal of experience and growth.

I had been a stay-at-home mum for 8 years when I decided to study child care. I had always been interested in it as a career path, since doing work experience when I was in high school. Studying childcare taught me so much more about children and I had wished I had this knowledge before having my own children. It is a joy to be part of a child’s learning journey. To watch them explore and build on experiences and to finally master something they have been trying to learn is just amazing.

I think children benefit from centre education and care in many ways, foremost when they build relationships with educators and their peers. Social interactions positively impact children’s developmental growth in language, prosocial behaviours and emotional resilience, as well as social learning. Social learning situations stimulate new understandings for children as they experience new situations.

Just like each child is different in their learning style and what they enjoy, the team at First Grammar Wyoming are diverse in their ways of teaching and their understandings of children. Each educator has their own passion and interest including sustainability, cooking, box construction, scientific investigation and music and movement. These differences are beneficial to the children in allowing them to experience a myriad of learning opportunities and finding different educators that they connect with.

All of our educators are positive and friendly. They are child focused and dedicated to providing age-appropriate activities and learning experiences for your child designed to promote curiosity, imagination, creativity, higher order thinking, prosocial behaviours and emotional resilience.

We follow our centre guidelines for cleaning, hygiene and use of personal protective equipment to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all of our children. All educators have their First Aid Certificate, Anaphylaxis and CPR training up to date and have all completed Child Protection Training. All educators are mandatory reporters and are required to have a Working With Children Check.

My child protection statement: I am committed to ensuring the safety, protection and wellbeing of all children. I aim to provide a safe environment where children are respected, valued and encouraged to reach their full potential.

Communication is key when it comes to building and maintaining a good working relationship with our families. This starts from orientation and continues as we develop a relationship with your child. We have many ways of communicating with families, the first is our face-to-face discussions during drop off and pick up. My office door is always open to family members that have something to discuss. We communicate weekly through our ‘Parent Catchup’ which is similar to a newsletter giving information about staff leave, upcoming events and information about upcoming maintenance at the centre, issues affecting our service and highlights various policies, and invites feedback from families. We also utilise the Xplor app to communicate with families on a daily basis information about their child’s meals, sleep times, toileting, photos and observations.

We have a convenient quick and easy drop off available for parents in the foyer. Initially this was implemented due to Covid restrictions, however we have found our current families are enjoying the smooth transition from home to preschool that dropping off in the foyer provides them. Our friendly staff meet you at the gate and help your child to say goodbye, the children are then encouraged to head off to find their locker to put away their bags. We rush to the window to wave one last goodbye to mum or dad as they jump in the car. Children are then supported to find their friends or an activity to engage them.

We are more than happy to help make the process of enrolling as simple as possible. All of our enrolment forms can be filled out online and I am available any time if you have any questions regarding CCS or CWA’s.