Tanya Davis still chuckles to herself every time she remembers the early weeks of Thirroul Preschool Centre.
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But back in 1976, it was tears Mrs Davis was fighting back, “scared’’ she had made a mistake in opening a preschool in Thirroul.
“I remember I only had one child for the first five or six Wednesdays. I thought oh my God, what have I done. Fortunately things picked up and we haven’t looked back since,’’ she said.
Thousands of children have passed through the doors of the preschool at 381-383 Lawrence Hargrave Drive over the past 40 years.
Mrs Davis, her husband Tony and one staff member were on board in January, 1976, looking after the eight children enrolled.
Six months down the track there were 12 children and within two years there were 24 children and two additional staff members were employed.
The preschool had an extension in 1997 to add a second room that catered for two-year-olds. In 1999 Mrs Davis introduced the Montessori method of teaching to the centre.
She created one room specifically to cater for 19 children and their families who were interested in the “teach me to teach myself’’ philosophy of education.
Today Thirroul Preschool Centre and Montessori School has enrollments of 47 children per day and offers play based learning for two-five year-olds and the Montessori method of teaching for three-five year-olds.
“Things are going well and I still love my job,’’ Mrs Davis said.
“I opened the centre because I was a teacher back in Lebanon and when I moved here I wanted to teach again.
“Things haven’t always been easy but over the years we have built up the centre and now things are great.
“We have seen so many wonderful children and families over the years. We also have had and still have great staff looking after the kids.’’
The preschool is more than a job for the Davis’. The husband and wife team live on-site and have over the years made various extensions to the preschool.
“We bought land just behind us so we could extend the play area and make a car park for our staff,’’ Mr Davis added. “The kids love playing in this area. It is also a fantastic space for adults.’’