Guardian Childcare and Education has introduced a new national program designed to ensure children at its centres receive a consistent, calm and enriching early learning experience.
The exclusive Thrive program, which has been rolled out across Guardian’s 180 centres over the past 18 months, provides a framework for how the organisation operates its centres daily, from room routines to educator leadership.
Guardian Chief Quality and Curriculum Officer Kathryn Waugh said Thrive brought together the organisation’s approach to early learning into one clear, high quality system.
“At its core, Thrive is designed to support our teams to feel confident, happy and successful. If our rooms run well, and our teams feel confident, they create environments that are consistent, safe, calm and enriching for children,” she said.
“It’s the Guardian way of working, setting clear outcomes and expectations and equipping our teachers and educators with the tools and resources they need to build leadership capability and work effectively together, all day, every day.”
Consistency across every centre
Ms Waugh said Thrive supported smoother and more predictable days, creating the conditions for children to consistently benefit from richer, more meaningful and intentional learning experiences.
Central to the initiative is a practical set of resources available in every room where teams are empowered to use them by themselves or alongside others.
This toolkit is designed to ensure educators clearly understand their role and confidently manage day-to-day situations in the room.
It includes:
- Self-assessment checks for teams
- A structured set of guidelines for running rooms effectively
- Practical resources to support the Thrive approach
Ms Waugh said the program aimed to support all Educators and Teachers to feel confident and supported in their leadership.
“Thrive is about giving our teams a toolkit to bring their best selves to work each day,” she said.
“It also means when change occurs in our centres we have the systems in place to ensure our children and families always experience a high quality early learning.”
Seven learning outcomes
The Thrive principals are underpinned by seven learning outcomes, all aligned to the National Quality Framework, which act both as training for educators/teachers and as an ongoing “how to” guide for running high quality centres.
Ms Waugh said Thrive made leadership and professional development more visible within centres, allowing educators to recognise and celebrate the work they did alongside children and families.
“Thrive is ultimately designed to enable centres to ‘thrive’ every day, ensuring children experience early learning environments that are engaging, nurturing and consistent across the Guardian network,” she said.
“The program is exclusive to Guardian and has been developed through many years of teaching, research, and leading best practice.
“It complements our exclusive To BE Me teaching and learning program, introduced in 2025, which supports children through every stage of their first five years. Central to To BE Me is our unique approach to communicating with families about their child’s learning and developmental progress, in a way that is clear, meaningful and easy to understand.”
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