The Winyu team is a mixture of educators and staff from around the world with diverse cultural backgrounds. We use this opportunity to build on our socio-cultural approach and include diverse perspectives in our teaching and learning on an ongoing basis.

We respect our differences and see this as our strength. There are many ways to do things, and different perspectives and values enrich our learning environment. We learn from each other and aim to maintain a strong team of educators to promote early years learning and development.

Children of all ages have access to a combination of early childhood teachers and professional educators.

Educators have been thoughtfully allocated to each age group to enhance the balance of teaching, and learning opportunities brought about by diverse knowledge and skills.

Director: Xuan Zhang (Suzy)

Xuan (Suzy) Zhang is a dedicated advocate for children’s rights, holding both a Bachelor’s Degree in Business and a Master’s Degree in Teaching in Early Years Education. Originally from China, Suzy is deeply committed to ensuring that every child can fully experience their formative years, embracing the beauty of living in the moment. Her approach is grounded in the belief that childhood should be a time of wonder and exploration.

With a profound dedication to crafting learning environments that are equitable, safe, supportive, and engaging, Suzy works tirelessly to create spaces where children can flourish and reach their full potential. Her passion lies in fostering nurturing settings that honour each child’s unique journey, allowing them to grow and learn at their own pace. Suzy’s professional expertise is complemented by her genuine care for every child’s well-being, ensuring that each moment in their educational experience is meaningful and enriching.

At Winyu, we have a spacious, open-plan setting with state-of-the-art facilities.

Our outdoor environments include a beautiful and sustainable nature-based playground design. The exciting features of our outdoor environment include many green plants, bamboo bushes, vegetable gardens, an under-cover sandpit, reused tyres, repurposed timber climbing frame, slide and garden kitchen.

Our indoor environment and resources support inclusive play. Each area is carefully thought out to promote children’s independence in their play.

For example, the ‘practical life’ corner in each room is arranged to promote a sense of connection between the home and educational setting. It is open for children’s imagination to engage in pretend play and explore their social skills.

We are a multicultural centre and respect diverse cultural backgrounds, beliefs, traditions, practices and perspectives. Our educators bring their valuable cultural knowledge and skills that enrich our learning environment.

We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land and pay respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders past, present and future by singing our Acknowledgement of Country song with children in our yarning circle before mealtimes. We are thankful to have had the opportunity to enjoy our time here with our colleagues, children, families and community members, and will continue to embrace the beauty of diverse cultures.

Winyu is unique in that we provide mixed-aged playtime every day where all children get to freely explore other room environments, play with different resources and engage with educators who do not predominantly work in their room.

Mixed-age learning and play has significant benefits for children. It allows siblings to interact and gives children opportunities to play and learn from those outside their age group. Older children develop supporting and nurturing behaviours, while the younger ones learn social skills and language, and develop further confidence.

Our flexible learning environments and mixed-aged practices are inspired by leading international early childhood education research and innovation. We design our routines and curriculum with consideration to family practices at home, supporting each child’s individual routine and needs throughout the day.

We believe that young children learn through their interactions with the social world and their environment. To promote their learning and development, we build meaningful connections and engage with our local community spaces, people and organisations.

In the past, this has included visits from families sharing their experiences related to their jobs, working with Floriade to plant some beautiful tulip bulbs and annual seedlings in our backyard, and a visit from firefighters.

We feel very thankful for the families who have always supported our practice, going the extra mile to contribute their time and effort to make our learning more meaningful.

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