Early Childhood Management Services – Our vision, purpose and values

ECMS is a not-for-profit community enterprise providing quality early childhood education and care for children, parents, families and communities across Melbourne. Our services touch the lives of approximately 5000 children, their parents and families in many varied and diverse communities across Melbourne each week.

At ECMS we provide educational programs to three and four year old children and their families in kindergarten and related settings. ECMS also operates a suite of community based long day care centres providing quality care and education to children aged 0-6 years. ECMS manages a Family Day Care scheme, providing in-home care and education to children in the south west corridor of Melbourne. All of our services are provided in partnership with families, parent committees, local government, business, schools and other community-based organisations.

The increasing demand for early childhood services fuelled by population growth together with changing community needs and expectations, means that our programs and services continually evolve.

We use our practice wisdom and expertise to advocate and provide a voice for children, parents, families and communities to ensure every child in our community has the opportunity to be their best.

Our Vision

A community where every child has the opportunity to be their best and where every parent, family and community is enriched by the experience of their child’s learning.

Our Values

• Inclusion: We value and nurture the uniqueness of each child and diversity of each community in designing inclusive services.
• Respect: We respect the primary role of parents and care givers and encourage their involvement in our services.
• Learning and enrichment: We provide parents, families and communities with access to resources and opportunities so that they can focus on connectedness, learning and enrichment.
• Connectedness: Our services are embedded in and connected with the communities we serve across Melbourne.
• Responsiveness: Our services are responsive to the specific needs of the children and communities we serve.
• Trust: We are a trusted partner with parents, communities, business and other services in responding to need.