They say it takes a village to raise a child, which means a child must have positive interactions with an entire community of people in order to grow in a successful and healthy environment.

Of course, with our frenetic lifestyles, long work days, and spread-out communities, it can be hard to ensure that our littlest ones are getting the social growth they need.

Across Australia there has been a crisis in early-learning development over recent years. From unsustainable pricing to not enough placements for the children of a community, it has been difficult for parents to find a place where they know their children will thrive.

The Rose Nowers Early Learning Centre in South Hedland is a place where children in the community can come to learn, play, and interact in a safe, healthy, and fun environment. Providing placements for children from 3 months up to pre-school age, Rose Nowers is bringing the village feel to South Hedland. 

To help service the needs of the local community, it has a particular focus on providing care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, of which it is currently sitting at 70% occupancy. 

Sarah McKenzie has been the director of Rose Nowers for a couple years, and for her, having the support to grow the centre and receive governance training has made a positive impact.

‘We’ve had support from the Thriving Futures program, which has helped us improve our governance. We’ve had more educators for our children. In the coming years, we are looking at expanding through the help of the Thriving Futures program.’

And while the support for the centre is great from a business perspective, that support ends up effecting the entire community.

‘We can increase those spaces for children and get them through the door to have access to early learning – which is so vital, not only for the community and the function of the local community, but also for the children.. So it’s really nice that through this support we can grow, we can get more places, more children in the door, more access to quality early childhood education, more quality educators for our children.’

BHP funds the Thriving Futures program which aim to address the ongoing shortage of childcare availability in the Pilbara, so that all children can have access to high quality early learning experiences. The program focuses on staff support, employment opportunities, centre governance, and training. 

When the foundation of a child’s life is met with its’ needs, there’s a stronger future for everyone.