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Form of workA rare opportunity to join a boutique centre with a cohesive team, a tight-knit community and a deep commitment to providing exceptional education and care for children.
Echoes Montessori is part of a groundbreaking intergenerational village. Our early learning service is embedded into the grounds of the Encore Apartments for independent retirement living. These neighbours become true ‘grandfriends’ for the children and friends to the teachers, contributing meaningfully to our learning program and to our daily lives. We are also fortunate to have access the shared facilities that Encore offers, including the community gardens, the workshop, the gym, small library and meeting rooms. Being part of this village gives our educators a strong sense of community and belonging in their workplace, and the chance to contribute to an innovative new model of intergenerational learning and living that is already attracting international attention. Learn more at www.samontessori.com.au/echoes/
Echoes Montessori is owned and operated by an intergenerational team of its own: mother-and-daughter duo Barbara and Jessica Langford. We are emotionally invested and directly involved in the program, so as a member of the team you will have a personal connection with every level of management. If you have requests or ideas, you can communicate directly with the people who can help make it happen.
The opportunity:
We are currently seeking a part-time professional for our Preschool Room (3 - 6 year olds).
We are ideally seeking someone for 3 days per week - however, we truly believe that the most important priority is to find the right ‘fit’ for our centre, so we would happily get creative with the right candidate if they were seeking slightly more (or fewer) days, or even if one person felt they'd like to work full-time embracing the chance to work across two different age groups! Please indicate your preferred number of hours and days of availability in your cover letter.
You might be the perfect fit for this role if you:
- Are genuinely passionate about being an educator,
- Have experience delivering individualised programs and care,
- Feel enthusiastic about partnering with parents to support their journey and include their perspectives,
- Have energy, humour, warmth, creativity and compassion that you wish to share with young children and your colleagues,
- Love working within a close-knit team to engage in reciprocal and respectful collaboration,
- Feel intrinsically motivated and rewarded by making a difference in a child's life.
- Want to commit to a long-term position to provide security and consistency for children who are developing relational attachments.
- Bring 'something special' to your interactions with children, whether through a love of song, an infectious smile, a second language, the art of story-telling, or another unique skill that sparks joy! Please include these personal passions or special skills in your application!
If this sounds like you, we'd love to meet you!
Qualifications & experience
- We are seeking applicants with a Certificate, Diploma or Bachelor Degree in Early Childhood Education, as we are already exceeding our required ratios for qualifications and can therefore focus on finding the right person, not the right piece of paper.
- We will also consider applications from professionals with qualifications in other related fields, such as child psychology, paediatric nursing or aged care, who would be willing to undertake training in early childhood education.
- Experience in an early childhood service is ideal, but we also recognise that some individuals gain deep insights into child development from other professional or personal experiences, including parenting. If you are new to early childhood education but have other experiences that have prepared you to work respectfully with children and effectively with a team then please share these with us in your application.
- Montessori experience or training is highly-regarded,but not required. Successful applicants who do not have Montessori qualifications will be provided with an initial induction to help you understand the fundamentals and will be approached to undertake further supported study after the first 12 months of your employment if you are eager to deepen your knowledge. This is an exciting opportunity to learn something new and expand your professional development.
- Please introduce yourself by sending your CV (including contact details for 3 referees) and a cover letter.
Tasks & responsibilities
We use the Montessori method to guide our practices. This means that we have an emphasis on treating each child with respect, empowering them to develop independence, designing inspiring learning environments, and encouraging child-directed exploration and engagement.
We aim to provide a program that stands apart from traditional childcare models by providing truly personalised care for every child. Educators have professional support and time to observe, teach and reflect
You would be working within our Preschool classroom with children aged 3-6. We work as a collaborative team to develop our programs and all contribute to developing documentation to celebrate and share each child's learning journey.
Benefits
- You will join an exciting team of high-quality educators led by a passionate team of mentors with extensive experience within SA Montessori. If you join us you will enjoy the benefit of contributing to this new innovative intergenerational program which is sure to attract broad interest.
- We aim to provide you with stability, opportunity, and excellent working conditions.
- Echoes Montessori is an architecturally designed centre with access to wonderful facilities, gym, and lots of green spaces to relax and restore your mental well-being.
- The workspace is beautiful, light, and spacious. Your colleagues will be high-quality educators with a strong work ethic and good life values.
- Our family-friendly approach comes from the heart having a founder (Barbara Langford) who started her first Montessori centre for her own daughter Jessica, 33 years ago. The success and reputation that has followed Barbara since that time is a testament to the quality she provides in her centres.
- We have strong protocols for health and hygiene management, including Covid risk minimisation, and we pride ourselves on managing this aspect of life to help protect the health and well-being of our community.
- We embed principles of Positive Psychology into our practices to promote well-being for our team members as well as our children and families.
- Tea Tree Plaza is directly across the road, offering convenient options for lunch breaks and easy access to a range of retail outlets,
- Generous remuneration with a personalised approach to developing a roster of hours that respects your work-life balance.
- Staff discount of 25% for educational resources purchased through Montessori Child (www.montessorichild.com.au)
About SA Montessori
Echoes Montessori is part of the SA Montessori group. SA Montessori is a family-owned organisation which links seven early childhood settings across Adelaide. We are not a franchise - our founder and CEO Barbara Langford is an owner of each centre and works closely with 4 other partners who are also specialists in education and therefore invest their hearts into what we do. Our focus is on children, families and our educators, not profits or shareholders. We have three decades of experience delivering exceptional early childhood programs with ethics and integrity. We specialise in ‘boutique’ services with small centre sizes using the Montessori method to guide our practices. This means that we have an emphasis on treating each child with respect, empowering them to develop independence, designing inspiring learning environments and encouraging child-directed exploration and engagement. Family values are at the core of everything we do. Our classrooms are cultivated by close-knit teams and we are blessed to work with loyal and emotionally invested parent communities.
Learn more at www.samontessori.com.au
