The Centre

The St Francis Xavier Parish of Ballina took a very exciting step in January 2010 with the opening of this Early Childhood Education Children’s Centre for the Ballina-Lennox Head community. The Centre, very appropriately, is named after the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the grandmother of Jesus. The Centre is licensed to accommodate up to 76 children each day, enrolling children from 6 weeks to 6 years of age. The Centre is open Monday to Friday from 7.30am to 5.30pm for 50 weeks of the year with a two week closure over Christmas and New Year.

As for all children’s centres, St Anne’s Long Day Care Centre is licensed under the Education and Care Services National Regulations 2011 and complies with the National Quality Standards which were implemented in January 2012 as part of the Federal Government’s new National Quality Framework for children’s services. These standards are in place to ensure we continue to aim for a high quality of early childhood education and care for all children attending St Anne’s.

Facilities

This beautiful modern environment includes five playrooms designed to support play-based learning with vibrant and flexible spaces for children from babies to toddlers, through to preschoolers. The environment not only supports the children’s learning program but also includes facilities that support the educator’s to approach their work competently and professionally.

Meals

St Anne’s has an on-site “chef” to prepare meals daily including morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea dependent upon the child’s age and nutritional requirements.

Serving fresh meals enables St Anne’s to provide a menu that is varied, nutritious, and delicious. Catering for a wide range of tastes, allergies and food intolerances the menu is planned to ensure individual children’s health needs are met. The menu is planned incorporating fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables, and foods that are high in nutrition as advised by the Australian Guide to healthy eating.

We do ask that families provide prepared bottles for little ones and appropriately transport them to the Centre to transfer into the nursery fridges ready for the day.