The space is already bursting with life long before the children arrive at the St Therese Preschool and Long Day Care at Sadlier where Anitha Arul, 55, is the founding director.
Budgerigars named after Arul’s grandchildren chatter in their cages alongside “Holly” the parrot, plants sprout and blossom in pots and recycled containers by bookshelves and posters displaying curriculum guidelines.
Guppies multiply seemingly miraculously in an aquarium near a multi-sensory prayer space displaying the words to the Our Father, Hail Mary and a picture of St Mary MacKillop.
Follow your nose and you’ll find delicious smells and Christian praise music wafting from the kitchen where Rose the cook is getting a start on lunch.
Outside, one group of children are pretending to roast marshmallows over a fire at the yarning circle formed with logs.
“I call it the garden of Eden,” Arul beams.
“We say that parents are the first teachers of the children, second are the professional educators, then the environment and fourth is the animals.
“Children with diverse needs especially find this area very calming and we allow them to spend time here to play, ponder and take their own time before going into their rooms and beginning the day.”
Arul has led the centre for children aged 2-5 since it was opened in 2019 as the Archdiocese of Sydney’s first Catholic day care centre offering affordable childcare in partnership with parishes and Catholic schools.
Sydney Catholic Early Childhood Services now operates five early learning centres including Coogee, Auburn, Rosebery and Caringbah and plans to launch several more services across Sydney’s parishes.
St Therese’s has a long waiting list, with a percentage of its families coming from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Anitha sees part of her job as seeing God’s love in them all, and she and her team support them in various ways including packing take-home dinners for parents running late to pick up their kids, providing a food pantry, donated clothing and toys.
Here children play, pray, sing and learn and it is parents and carers who are assigned homework—to spend time having fun with their kids.
“Nature and play are essential for holistic development, offering children opportunities for exploration, creativity, and physical activity,” Arul says.
“These experiences support cognitive, emotional, and social growth, laying a robust foundation for lifelong learning.
“I tell our families not to worry so much about the academics at this stage.
“Their children will spend 13 years of their life in structured learning and let’s not take play from them especially in nature, our God-given resource, because it really is serious business.”
So passionate is Arul about the importance of nature and play for young children that Premier Chris Minns recently awarded her the prestigious 2024 NSW Premier’s Early Childhood Education Scholarship.
Only one $15,000 scholarship was offered for the state and it will fund her to undertake a study tour to Sweden and Denmark to visit renown Forest Schools, a nature-based Scandinavian approach to early learning.
On returning, she hopes to share her experiences across the Sydney Catholic Early Childhood Services network and the wider community.
She said she is “deeply honoured” to receive the scholarship and eager to gain hands-on experience with nature-based learning and explore new methods for integrating rich outdoor environments into St Therese’s curriculum.
“My goal is to introduce these strategies at Sadlier-Miller, creating immersive and practical learning opportunities that foster curiosity, resilience, and a profound connection with nature in the early years,” she says.