About
Wimble Street Child Care Cooperative is a small parent-run centre that consistently achieves an ‘exceeding’ standard of excellence as assessed by the ACECQA (Australian Children’s Education & Care Authority).
We offer 31 places across three rooms and healthy and delicious meals for the children cooked on-site by our Wimble cooks. We also provide each child with a blanket for nap time and a Wimble Street hat for lots of sun safe outdoor play. Our Centre is open 7.45am to 5.45pm and the Centre provides morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea, catering to your child’s dietary needs.
We have two multi-aging rooms, and one kinder room. There is a significant body of literature that suggests that ‘family groupings’, that is multi-age groups, allow younger children the benefits of learning from and watching the skills of older children. Older children also benefit through the helping and caring relationships they form with their younger peers.[1] Our four year old kinder program is acclaimed by parents and includes one of the first bush kinder programs established in Victoria. You can read more about our programs and teaching and learning philosophy here. A key element of Wimble’s supportive and engaging environment for children must be attributed to our educators who have more than 50 years of working at Wimble between them. Wimble is proud of our record of retaining quality staff, most of our staff members have been at Wimble for 7 years or more and this translates into a stable, consistent and tailored environment of care for our children.
“‘The relationships between carers and the children, and also between the children, is a joy to watch. I am so grateful for the opportunity for my children to grow up in this environment.’”
Wimble staff and families are proudly welcoming of diversity. We encourage children to engage with different cultures and are supportive of Rainbow families. Many of our staff are also multi-lingual. We foster respect and knowledge of Aboriginal cultures in our programming and through activities such as excursions to the Koori Heritage Trust.
Wimble Street is committed to sustainability. In 2017, our educators decided to eliminate glitter from our programs, concerned about the impacts of micro-plastics, such as glitter that find their ways into our seas and the food chain. In 2018 Wimble engaged a cleaner who is committed to using non-toxic and sustainable cleaning solutions. Wimble Street is committed to ongoing improvements to reduce our environmental impacts and to implement a consciousness of sustainability in our teaching programs.
Because Wimble Street is a co-operative, we are the sum of our membership, past and present. We rely on parents to take on management roles as Directors of our board and to participate in sub-committees convened by Directors. There is great scope for parents to contribute their skills, knowledge and experience to shape Wimble Street as it continually evolves to meet the needs of our families.
[1] Discovering the Advantages of Multiage Grouping,. Journal of Multiage Education, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2008: 16-19; Patricia Corson, ‘Multiage Groupings: A viable Child Care Option’ Childhood Education, Vol 76, No 3, 2000; Lilian G. Katz, ‘The Benefits of Mixed-Age Grouping’, ERIC Digest, 1995, https://www.ericdigests.org/1996-1/mixed.htm
Our History
Wimble Street is a vibrant contemporary centre with a rich history. The Co-operative was incorporated in 1973. The founding parents, Linton Lethlean, Sue White, Robert Strong, Jim Barson and Dennis Watson, with the support of commissioned architect Deborah White , successfully convinced the Department of Education to purchase and fund the renovation of the old milk depot in Wimble Street, Parkville. In late 1976 these renovations were completed and the Child Care Centre that had been informally running out of Sue White’s home, was moved into the premises that remain the site of the Centre today.
White’s renovation and extension, designed with her former student, Greg Burgess, is architecturally significant and has been discussed in terms of women architects’ contributions to emerging architectural and community-building practices.[2] Recently describing the project, White said, ‘I used my son Daniel as a ‘consultant’ – I would take him to spaces when half finished and watch he did with/in them them.’[3]
In 1979 a parent-commissioned report on the operation of the newly established co-operative described the space:
“From the outside, Wimble Street Co-operative looks much as it always did. ... However, the sliding gate with its high catch is the giveaway. ... Inside, Wimble Street bears no resemblance to its original design, having been skilfully hollowed out into a light, bright, rather noisy, main play room area, with various smaller annexes opening off.”
You will catch some glimpses of our beautiful building from the street and in our gallery but please do contact our coordinator to organise a tour of the space and to register for Wimble’s waiting list.
[2] Karen Burns, ‘Women, Architecture, Activism: Building Community Institutions in the Late Modern City” in Proceedings of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand: 33, Gold, edited by AnnMarie Brennan and Philip Goad, 102-109. Melbourne: SAHANZ, 2016. See also a version available here: http://archiparlour.org/women-architecture-activism/
[3] Ibid, p105.
