What is Family Day Care?

Family Day Care on the Atherton Tablelands commenced operation on 27th April 1987 as the Tablelands Family Day Care Scheme.

In late 2019 Tablelands Family Day Care Service was renamed and branded to Natural Choice Early Learning - FDC with the co-ordination unit situated at 95 Kennedy Hwy, Tolga. The service has become Incorporated (constituted as a legal corporation/ charitable institution), with 4 Executive members & employs 3 staff, Manager, Educational Leader (also contract coordinator based at Ingham) and one Administration officer. Educators are based in most Tableland towns, Cooktown and areas between Innisfail and Ingham.

Your local family daycare service provider is the Natural Choice Early Learning - FDC. The Service provides excellent home-based child care for children up to 13 years of age in a home environment through a network of approved Family Day Care Educators.

Educators are experienced, qualified individuals who earn an income by providing a high-quality education based service within their own homes, for small groups of children.

Professional staff from the Coordination Unit work in partnership with Educators in supporting children's learning and development while offering support, to both Educators and parents.

Coordination Unit staff monitor and regulate home-based Educators ensuring the highest quality of care and abiding by relevant federal and state legislative requirements.

Our Philosophy 

Natural Choice Early Learning - FDC is a childcare Service that provides a “home away from home” environment with a structured but flexible curriculum to promote physical, emotional and intellectual development, preparing children for their next stage in life. We offer a team approach and work closely with families and educators to ensure that all children make a secure attachment with Educators.     

Our Educators strive to provide high-quality childcare in a safe and loving family environment where they are compassionate, patient, encouraging, motivated to plan, implement and reflect programs that support children’s wellbeing, development and learning.  All learning environments and programs reflect the National Quality Framework and its related curriculum frameworks (Early Years Learning and My Time our Place) valuing the importance of play.   

We foster an environment where all children feel safe, comfortable, happy, nurtured, valued and have the opportunity to develop skills at their own pace. A variety of educational and age-appropriate activities focused on their individual interests and needs are provided. We encourage children to develop a strong sense of identity to enable them to become global citizens with shared responsibilities to the community, environment and sustainability.     

We recognise that parents are a child’s first educator, so the Service works closely with parents/guardians to ensure that the family’s values and beliefs are adhered to.  Parents are able to feel confident that their children are gaining the necessary skills to become confident, active, proficient members of the community. We embrace the diversity that each child brings to their learning and encourage all families of diverse cultures and various ethnical groups to include their experiences so that they can be explored by the children.