Canberra children as young as three are learning about the power of democracy through an innovative and interactive new program.
The Guardian Childcare and Education Forrest centre introduced the program after their children started asking about signs they were seeing during the 2025 Federal Election.
This sparked the idea for the Democracy Project, designed to give children aged 3-5 early insights into democracy, inclusion and community participation.
Guardian Canberra (ACT) Portfolio Manager Stefano Passeri said the project was in line with the centre’s philosophy that, even at an early age, children were citizens and had a right to have their voices heard.
“Parliament House is only eight minutes’ walk from the centre, so the team has started weekly walks there to inspire discussions about leadership, fairness, and community.” Mr Passeri said.
“During the election some of the children were seeing corflute signs in the surrounding streets, and many of their families work in the public service and discuss these types of issues at home.
“Now the project includes children holding their own elections, voting peers into Safety Minister roles, taking on responsibilities and signing agreements.”
The project is built into play at the centre where children use clay, blocks, sketching, and painting to represent important buildings and architecture around Canberra.
The children have explored flags and their importance, contributed to a Democracy Canvas and even drafted their own constitution which was opened up for family input.
“They have been writing letters to government ministers and inviting them to visit the centre for an incursion (centre visit),” Mr Passeri said.
“Through the project children get to practise leadership, respect, fairness, and inclusion and this helps them to build confidence, creativity, and collaboration.
“It also gives them a stronger sense of identity and community for the preschoolers.”
“I am proud of our Forrest Centre Manager, Lauren, and her team for embarking on such a progressive and innovative program in an early childhood setting.”
The Democracy Project is part of the wave of innovative learning programs being introduced at Guardian Childcare centres.
This includes the To BE Me learning program, which launched earlier this month (October).
To BE Me is based on an exclusive age-and-stage curriculum that helps link observed behaviours in children to progress towards reading, writing, numeracy and other important areas of development.
Guardian Childcare CEO Warren Bright said each child was being given a My Learning & Development Book which tracked their progress and learning from when they were babies to when they started school.
“We think To BE Me will make a child’s learning and development journey more visible and memorable than ever before,” he said.
“The birth to school years are some of the most important years in a child’s life and this program will bring that experience alive in a really inspiring way.”
Guardian Childcare has also implemented a Canberra-wide safety project where child-safe practices are reinforced, reflected upon, and reviewed.
Each centre has developed its own Commitment to Safety statement based on feedback from educators and their reflective process. New safety processes have also been introduced including a transition flowchart to strengthen supervision practices.
To book at tour of the Forrest centre click here. For other centres in Canberra, or elsewhere, click here.
