Our story
We believe exceptional early learning belongs in every community.
First5Years was created to open exceptional early learning centres in regional Australian communities, designed with care, led with purpose and shaped around the communities they belong to.
That belief is the reason we exist, and it is the standard we hold ourselves to in every centre we open.
Where it began, quietly
This story began much earlier.
Mel was only five years old when her parents built and ran a childcare centre in Camden, NSW. During the school holidays, she became part of the family rhythm of the centre.
“I remember nearly everything about it. It was my happy place — I’d come in during school holidays and help my grandma in the kitchen, making sandwiches for the children. I would help Mum where I could. I loved that place, and it stayed with me.”
Mel didn’t grow up planning to return to early learning. It was only years later, as First5Years began to take shape, that she recognised how much of that childhood experience had stayed with her, the joy of being part of something built with care, for children, families and community.
Then came Emerald
The vision became a building.
Mel fell in love with Emerald long before there was a plan. A town in the Central Highlands with its own confidence, its own industries and its own way of doing things.
We listened
Before anything was drawn, there were conversations, with parents, with local businesses, with people who had lived there for decades.
“I kept hearing versions of the same story. Families who could not get a place. Parents who could not go back to work when they wanted to. Businesses who could not find people because those people had nowhere for their children.”
We saw an opportunity
What she also saw was an enterprising town: livestock, citrus, crops, mining, and the businesses that support all of those industries, and a Central Highlands Regional Council that believes in the region.
The opportunity was to create an early learning environment that reflected the energy, confidence and pride we saw in the town itself.
“I saw a community with enormous confidence in its future, and I wanted our early learning environment to reflect that same sense of possibility.”
So we built differently
We invested in architecture and interiors, in natural light and timber and calm. We invested in spaces for educators, proper planning rooms, because the people who teach deserve somewhere to think.
And we did not design the playscape alone. It was shaped with the community, and drawn from the country and industries the children see every day, a place they recognise as theirs, made for real, and appropriately risky, play.
The reaction
Families still walk in and tell us they did not expect to find this here. That reaction is the part we are proudest of, and the reason Emerald became a beginning rather than an end.
What we learned there is now how we work everywhere. Listen first. Understand the community. Design with purpose. Involve local people. Build a centre that belongs to its place.
Our people
We believe in growing people, too.
The same belief we hold about children, that people are capable, full of potential and able to grow, shapes how we lead our teams.
At First5Years, we want to understand where our people want to go, professionally and personally. We set goals together, create opportunities to learn, encourage people to step into leadership and, wherever we can, promote from within.
But development is about more than a career path.
People bring their whole lives to work. Families, ambitions, challenges, responsibilities and dreams don’t disappear when someone walks through the centre doors. Good leadership means understanding that and supporting the person, not simply managing the role.
We work hard to build relationships based on trust. Our people know they can pick up the phone. We have each other’s backs and we solve problems together.
Because when our educators grow, our centres grow with them, and ultimately, children and families feel the difference.
“One of the things that gives me the greatest satisfaction is empowering people to grow, helping someone see more in themselves, step into leadership, or achieve something personally or professionally that matters to them. I want First5Years to be a place where people feel trusted, supported and genuinely encouraged to become who they want to be.”
Our values
Our values were not written for us.
Our entire team at First5Years came together to discuss and crystallise what we stand for. Three words came back. They came from all of us, which is what makes them a commitment.
Passionate
We care, about the children, the families, and the people who work here.
Empowering
Children are capable and curious, and educators are backed to make real decisions.
Inclusive
Every family shape, culture, language and circumstance belongs here.
Today
We choose regional.
We choose regional communities for their strength, character and sense of possibility. We take the time to understand each place, build strong local teams and create centres that feel as though they belong.
Because First5Years isn’t about bringing the same centre to different towns. It’s about creating something special with each community we’re fortunate enough to become part of.
See our centres