YWCA CANBERRA

Winyu Early Childhood Service

An inclusive, family-focused early learning service

Winyu Early Childhood Service is an innovative early learning centre in the heart of Gungahlin. The purpose-built centre features open plan spaces and state-of-the-art facilities. We provide education and care for children age six weeks to five years.

Winyu is a warm and welcoming centre where our learning spaces, routines and curriculum are designed to complement your family’s approach. We strongly promote children’s rights, autonomy, independence, curiosity and freedom to explore their world.

Our award-winning, inclusive service celebrates multiculturalism and individuality and supports a culture of diversity and inclusion. We celebrate and value our differences and support all families to participate in our community.

When you use any of our YWCA Canberra children’s services programs, you help to support our community activities such as our housing programs, community development, youth engagement, and education to prevent domestic and family violence.

To enrol your child, please click the ‘Request to Enrol’ button.
Learn more about what we provide and how fees are paid.

Quality rating issued: May 2025

 

Fees

  • $163.18 per session (permanent bookings)
  • $166.48 per session (casual bookings)
Request to Enrol
Request a tour

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: Yu-Chuan (Finley)

Finley is originally from Taiwan and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chinese Literature. Her professional journey began as a Chinese teacher and university journalist, experiences that helped shape strong communication skills and a deep appreciation for storytelling and culture.

Finley is also a Diploma-qualified early childhood educator and has proudly worked as an Educational Leader for the past four years. In 2025, she was honoured to be recognised as the ACT winner of Educational Leader.

With a culturally diverse background, Finley is passionate about fostering a respectful, inclusive, and welcoming environment, both within the service and across the wider community. At Winyu, she thoughtfully embeds a combination of educational theories into daily practice, striving to deliver high-quality education guided by a strong and meaningful philosophy.

Finley strongly believes that “The child is both a hope and a promise for mankind” (Maria Montessori), and that the work educators do matters deeply, as the way children are supported today shapes the world of tomorrow. This belief guides Finley’s leadership, practice, and commitment to creating environments where every child feels valued, capable, and inspired to thrive.

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.

Waitlist Application

An inclusive, family-focused early learning service

Request to Enrol

Waitlist Application Forms

If you would like to fill up on a Waitlist Application Form,
click on which Childhood Service you prefer.

Chiara Will

Chiara is Director of School Age Care at YWCA Canberra, bringing a wealth of knowledge and a diverse range of leadership and management experience across the Early Childhood Education sector. Having held roles from Administration Officer to Centre Director, she brings a holistic skill base and a strength in solution-based approaches to learning. 

Prior to joining YWCA Canberra, Chiara led a team of over 25 educators, driving policy development, professional training and development, and contributing to Quality Improvement, Sustainability, Reconciliation, and Strategic Inclusion Action Plans. 

In her current role, Chiara leads the strategic development of processes and systems that ensure high-quality, safe, and inclusive environments for children. She mentors and empowers managers, leaders, and educators to deliver best-practice programs aligned with regulatory standards, fosters strong stakeholder partnerships, and guides the Quality Support Team in managing compliance and quality assurance across services. 

Shane McAlpine

Shane is Director of Children’s Services (ECEC) at YWCA Canberra, overseeing eight early learning services with 24 years of experience in the early childhood sector. He brings an extensive understanding of education and care, current practices, and regulatory requirements, with a robust approach to developing high-quality practitioners. 

Shane supports the day-to-day operation of educational practices and curriculum across all our early learning centres, with quality and pedagogical practice at the forefront. He plays a critical role in providing escalation support and mentorship to centre directors and educators alike. 

His professional passions include children’s rights, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inclusion and teaching perspectives, and advocacy for the early childhood profession. He is an active representative on the ACT committee of Early Childhood Australia. 

As a father of two children who have experienced the early years system firsthand, Shane brings a deeply personal understanding of the challenges families face in balancing work and parenting. This perspective shapes his inclusive, stakeholder-centred approach to service delivery across every centre he works with. 

Katherine Hellwig

Katherine is the Executive Director of Children’s Services at YWCA Canberra, bringing over 23 years of extensive experience in delivering education and care in ACT and the surrounding areas of the city. Her career spans both not-for-profit and commercial providers, highlighting her versatile and adaptable nature. 

For over 11 years, Katherine has held an executive role within a not-for-profit organisation that experienced significant growth in its early education and care portfolio. Her responsibilities included managing programs and initiatives that fostered engagement within the local community. 

Katherine began her career as an educator, and this hands-on experience has given her a profound understanding of the critical role educators play in the lives of children and families. Her qualifications include an Advanced Diploma of Children’s Services, an Undergraduate Certificate in Service Management, and a Diploma of Leadership and Management. In 2018, Katherine was honoured with the Community for Children’s Award by the ACT Children’s Week Committee, recognising her dedication and impact on the community.  

Katherine is driven by a strong pedagogical belief that all children have the right to access quality early learning in their first five years of life. She focuses on delivering high-quality education and care in both early education and after school care programs, ensuring children receive the best start in life.  

Frances Crimmins

Frances Crimmins is the Chief Executive Officer of YWCA Canberra and has led the organisation since 2013, driving significant growth, high-quality integrated service delivery, and stronger corporate efficiency. Under her leadership, the non-profit organisation has become a courageous community advocate, ensuring the needs of vulnerable communities are seen, heard, and addressed locally and nationally. 

Frances brings a diverse background spanning the private and not-for-profit sectors across business, hospitality, healthcare, and community services. She remains a passionate advocate for policy initiatives addressing the root causes of women’s housing insecurity, homelessness, gender inequality, and gender-based violence. 

Frances also currently serves as Chair of Homelessness Australia and sits on the ACT Work Health Safety Advisory Council. Her former board roles include ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS), WESNET, the ACT Ministerial Advisory Committee for Women, and Co-Chair of Anti-Poverty Week in the ACT. 

Her leadership has been recognised with an Edna Ryan Award (2015), ACT Leader of the Year at the Australian Leadership Excellence Awards (2016), and selection into the inaugural Social Impact Leadership Australia (SILA) program (2021). Frances regularly represents YWCA Canberra at the United Nations Commission for the Status of Women in New York. 

Enquire now

Preferred tour date