Our Mentone Centre
At Bayside Early Learning Centre and Kindergarten in Mentone, we are proud to offer high-quality care and education for children in a warm, nurturing, and community-focused environment.
Our Mentone centre features:
- Two dedicated rooms for babies and toddlers, thoughtfully designed for comfort, exploration, and early development.
- Engaging Pre-Kinder and Kinder rooms, where children learn through a beautiful balance of structured experiences and play-based learning.
Our team of passionate, dedicated, and qualified educators are committed to nurturing each child’s growth. We value every child’s individuality and tailor our approach to support their unique needs, interests, and developmental stages.
We are open Monday to Friday, 6:00am to 6:00pm, operating 52 weeks per year to support busy families.
Join us and experience a caring, supportive, and enriching learning environment where your child can learn, grow, and thrive.
Book a tour today—we’d love to welcome your family to our community!
Babies & Toddlers
At our Mentone Centre, we provide a nurturing, loving and home-like environment where your baby or toddler feels safe, supported and cherished. Our approach is grounded in attachment theory, meaning your child’s emotional wellbeing is at the heart of everything we do. We focus on building strong, trusting relationships that help each child feel secure throughout their early learning journey.
A Safe, Calm & Caring Environment
Our nursery and toddler rooms are thoughtfully designed to be calm, warm and welcoming. Knowledgeable and caring educators create a peaceful atmosphere where children can explore, rest and play at their own pace. We value the importance of unhurried, responsive care—especially during feeding, resting and nappy-changing times. These intimate moments are treated as opportunities for connection, learning and relationship-building.
Respectful, Individualised Care
We recognise that every child is unique. Educators follow each child’s individual routine—sleep, feeding, comfort needs and daily rhythms—so that their transition into care is gentle and familiar. We work closely with families to honor home routines, preferences and cultural practices, ensuring consistency and comfort for your little one.
Play-Based Learning
Our babies and toddlers learn through rich play-based experiences designed specifically for their stage of development. Sensory play, music, movement, outdoor exploration and early communication experiences help stimulate curiosity and support physical, social and emotional growth. Educators extend learning by following each child’s cues, interests and emerging abilities.
Partnership With Families
We believe that strong, respectful partnerships with families create the best outcomes for children. We listen, communicate openly and collaborate with you to support your child’s needs. Together, we work to build a smooth, happy and confident start to early learning.
We warmly invite you to visit our nursery and toddler rooms, meet our dedicated educators and see firsthand the caring environment we offer your little one.
Kindergarten
Our Kindergarten program is flexible, child-focused, and designed to balance play-based learning with intentional teaching. Inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach, we see children as capable learners and use our environment as the third teacher.
Each room includes open-ended materials, natural resources and meaningful experiences that encourage curiosity, independence and creativity.
We offer an indoor/outdoor learning program, allowing children to move freely between spaces, explore in small groups, and engage in experiences that extend their thinking. Weekly programs are thoughtfully planned based on children’s interests and are shared with families to support learning at home.
Our learning focus includes:
- Language & Literacy – building communication, storytelling and early reading/writing skills
- STEM – developing curiosity, numeracy, problem-solving and scientific thinking
- Creative Arts – encouraging imagination, self-expression and perseverance
Our Kinder program is intentionally aligned with the Five EYLF Outcomes, supporting children to:
- Build a strong sense of identity
- Connect with their world
- Develop wellbeing and resilience
- Become confident, involved learners
- Grow as effective communicators
We carefully observe and respond to each child’s strengths and interests to build the skills needed for a successful transition to primary school—socially, emotionally and academically.
