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Part of the Hills community since 1976.

Get to know us – our history, our passion, our friendly faces. 

Girls building blocks in garden
Children crossing over logs
The discovery house children activities
Girl with chinese bowls

Who We Are

Mandi and Pete are the owners of this amazing little preschool in Castle Hill, nestled amongst an acre of beautiful Australian landscape in the Hills Shire of New South Wales.  Surprisingly, the Discovery House Preschool is unique – there is only one. This means limited numbers combined with quality care and education, which enables each individual to progress to primary school confident, and ready in every way to continue the education that they commenced at The Discovery House Preschool (TDH). The Centre is proudly Australian owned and operated, and sets an exceptionally high standard of care in the Hills District.

Mandi and Pete have owned and operated Early Childhood Education Centres for almost 20 years, as well, they bring their knowledge from their previous careers to the management, caring, and educational aspects of the Preschool, with Mandi having worked as a registered nurse for many years, prior to studying Early Childhood Education.

At The Discovery House, we always strive to operate over and above our requirements, ALL staff are First Aid, CPR and anaphylaxis trained, as well as completing yearly Child Protection training. We engage the industry and actively take part in regular Professional Development to ensure we are up to date and exceed best practice Early Education!

MEET OUR TEAM

Our Philosophy

At The Discovery House we are dedicated to creating an atmosphere and environment that is warm, inspiring, safe and supportive. We believe that each child’s learning is individual to their interests, cultural background and abilities. The learning environments are created to provide learning experiences that cater to individual interests and developmental needs through play based learning and discoveries. We are dedicated to providing our community with a culture of learning that is responsive and inclusive of all children, families, and their individual needs.

All Educators work collaboratively to reflect upon our current practices, discuss policies and approaches within our service. Our educational program and practices are implemented using the Early Years Learning Framework and allow for each child’s ongoing contribution to their own learning and exploration. At The Discovery House we respect and acknowledge families as children’s first and most influential teachers. Through collaboration and learning more about each individual child, we are able to cater to their needs, be respectful of culture and tradition and provide ongoing feedback. Individual planning cycles are used to reflect upon children’s learning and development whilst helping us create high quality early childhood education programs. These plans are flexible and ever changing to reflect the rights of every child to enjoy learning through a curriculum that is exciting, progressive, and purposeful.

At The Discovery House every child has the opportunity to experience high quality education and care in an environment that safeguards and promotes their health, safety and wellbeing. This is embedded in our everyday practice and policies and includes a strong focus on effective hygiene management, the encouragement of healthy and nutritious lunch boxes through support the learning and knowledge of our families, opportunities for rest and relation and adequate supervision in both indoor and outdoor environments. The interactions that are shared between children and educators are warm and responsive, allowing each child to feel safe, secure and included.

A holistic approach to teaching and learning also focuses on connections to the natural world. As The Discovery House has the unique advantage of being situated in a secluded bush land area, we are able to foster children’s capacity to understand and respect the natural environment and the interdependence between people, plants and animals. Our learning environment is safe and secure for our children’s learning to take place. Each learning space is designed to ensure access and participation for each child as well as creating some new challenges for the children to explore specifically with our risky play areas. We encourage flexible interactions between indoor and outdoor environments including the opportunity for alfresco dining.  Sustainable practices are embedded into our services operations and children are supported to become environmentally aware and responsible through their daily routines. 

We strive to become co-learners with children, families and our wider community to ensure everyone feels they have a voice and input within our everyday practice. Educators are on a journey, increasing our knowledge and striving for continuous improvement as we learn about and respect the richness of the local knowledge shared by community members includingcAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders. Our Reconciliation Action Plan demonstrates our commitment in creating, building, and deepening our connection to land and respecting its traditional owners. With the new knowledge that is created about the natural world that surrounds us, educators and children explore the strong relationships shared between country and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

We believe in the importance of our team consistency as this offers security, familiarity, love and trust to all members of our centre community. We also believe that knowledge, multicultural backgrounds and experience of our educators will enrich the quality and diversity of our centre and the programs available to our children. Educators at the service will work collaboratively with families and it is through these relationships that educators will convey respect and equity to each individual person within the service.

At The Discovery House our commitment to continuous improvement promotes and encourages the rights of every child. We believe in developing respectful relationships with children, families and educators through open and meaningful communication. We support and encourage children to interact peacefully and collaboratively with each other, challenge biases and promote social justice in every aspect of their learning and development. Educators will strive to guide their own learning through our centre code of conduct that supports best practice.

OUR PROGRAMME

Our Approach

The Discovery House is a family owned and operated education-based centre that has been a trusted part of the community since 1978 and are proud to have multiple generations of families come through the centre. We have a traditional, loving, and caring approach in educating children and are proud of the reputation we have established as the leading educational Early Learning Centre in the area. 

 Professionally trained teachers and carers help our children at the Discovery House to enjoy their days, discovering, learning, playing and preparing for their transition to school.

The Discovery House is a nurturing, safe and fun environment that fosters your child’s confidence and curiosity so that they develop a love of learning in preparation for primary school. The transition from Preschool to Primary School is such a huge step in a child’s life (and for parents), our goal is to make sure all children are prepared, socially, emotionally, and academically for this transition. 

We do this by;

  • Creating an individualised learning plan for each child that is updated monthly.
  • Delivering our education program in a structured and organised way.
  • Focusing on developing self-help skills and independence to foster and nurture confidence.
  • Providing a consistent daily routine that keeps your child busy and engaged all day.
  • Creating opportunities for children to practice their social skills in a safe environment.
  • Staffing over ratio daily to support our approach of smaller group learning and allowing one-on-one attention for children who need emotional support when new and still settling in.
  • Ensuring a fully equip playgroups and classroom with engaging resources. 

Girls building blocks in garden

Boy looking at insects magnifying glass

Child learning to count