Alunga Children’s Centre  is a community owned not for profit service  managed by Illawarra  Area Child Care  (IACC), and take pride in providing high quality and affordable early childhood service for children  0-5 years.

In 2010  Alunga Children’s Centre celebrates 20 years of providing care and education for young children and families of Albion Park Rail and the surrounding community. 

Alunga opened in the  February of 1990 and since then we have been committed to providing a high quality early childhood service for young children. Being a not for profit service our focus has always been to invest our income back into the service for the benefit of the children and their families. Over the years this has allowed us to maintain above industry standards in areas  such as the number and qualifications of the staff we employ and the resources and educational programs that we provide for the children. 

When the service was initially established in 1990 we were licensed for 40 children per day with only 5 places for children 0- 2 years. With the growth in population throughout  Shellharbour we saw a need  in more recent years  to extend our license to 10  places for children 0-2 years which resulted in the extension and refurbishment of  our  nursery and 0-3 years playroom. The overall license of the service has also been extended to 44 children per day in response to community need. 

As our licensed numbers have grown over the years, so too has our team of dedicated and enthusiastic early childhood educators. When Alunga first opened in 1990 there was a team of only 5 staff including Jan Langtry as director who is now the current CEO of IACC. Today we have a team of 9 early childhood educators and we continue to grow.

Throughout the years our early childhood educators have always been guided by current research and practice. This has ensured that our curriculum for children birth to five years has been responsive to the children, their families and the wider community. Within our local community we have developed a reputation as a provider of quality care and education, with an enriching curriculum which promotes skills, knowledge, attitudes and values which enable children to make the most of their potential. 

Our strong partnerships with families have always been important aspect of our service. Families are encouraged to become involved in not only in our day to day activities but also the management of the service through participation in our parent committee. 

Alunga has developed a culture of continuous improvement, where we strive for excellence in care, education and service provision. In the future will continue to focus on enhancing the quality of the service we provide for the benefit of the children, families and staff at Alunga.