About Us

We are a not for-profit organisation with a strong heritage in early childhood education in Queensland and Australia.

Educating and caring for children since 1940

The Brisbane Lady Gowrie Child Centre was established in 1940 as a demonstration centre for excellence in early childhood education and care, by Lady Gowrie, the wife of the Governor General at the time.

Since then Lady Gowrie’s early childhood education and care (ECEC) services have grown to provide universal programs for families with children aged 6 weeks to 12 years. Currently we provide services annually to 9500 families and children through 116 services and programs statewide; either owned, operated or affiliated with Lady Gowrie.

Lady Gowrie is committed to delivering client-focused early childhood and parent support services in Queensland, and driving excellence and innovation in early years service delivery.

The Lady Gowrie name in Queensland is synonymous with high quality and affordable early childhood services that promote a sense of emotional well being and social and cultural awareness for children, while supporting parents and enabling greater workforce participation.

Our services include:

Long Day Care
Lady Gowrie Community Kindergartens – Affiliated Community Kindergartens.
Parent Toddler Groups and Gowrie Threes Programs
Sessional and Long Hours Kindergarten programs
The Caboolture Early Years Place and Satellites at Morayfield, Woodford and Burpengary Meadows
Integrated Early Services in Barcaldine and Blackall
Outside School Hours Care
Professional Learning and Consultancy

Vision:

For Queensland children to thrive in enriched and nurturing learning environments.

Purpose:

We promote the value of and provide high-quality, affordable early education and support
programs for children and families from all cultures, circumstances and backgrounds.

Values:

Excellence

We strive for exceptional early childhood education and care.

Inclusion

We embrace the diversity of our community and workplace and provide early childhood services that recognise the potential in all children.

Engagement

We build positive and enduring relationships with children and families, partnering organisations, the community, and with on another based on honesty, trust and respect.

Integrity

We advocate and act ethically and with integrity at all times. We are accountable for our actions and the effective and efficient use of resources.

Lady Gowrie Qld 2020 – 2023 Strategic Plan available here.

Our Philosophy

Lady Gowrie Queensland enjoys a proud and strong heritage in early childhood education and care provision, leadership, and advocacy. Excellence, inclusion, engagement, and integrity are at the heart of our work. Respectful relationships form the foundation of our practice, and we work together to promote the best possible outcomes for all children and families.

We acknowledge that Lady Gowrie services are situated on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lands across Queensland. We respect the Elders, past and present, as the traditional custodians of the lands upon which we play and learn. We embrace difference and welcome the richness that diversity contributes to our services and communities. We are committed to the well-being of everyone. We promote socially-just, sustainable, and culturally safe relationships, practices, and environments.

We celebrate childhood as a unique time of life where the foundations are laid for future health, well-being, learning and development. Children learn in the social and cultural contexts of their families and communities and bring these unique experiences and understandings to their learning. We promote play as a meaningful context for learning and development. We value children as active and competent learners, decision-makers, and citizens from birth.

In our work with children we:

listen, learn about their identities and ways of being, so that we respond meaningfully to them
support their dispositions, knowledge, and skills, building their confidence & resilience as learners
foster a sense of belonging and self-worth through warm, secure, and trusting relationships & interactions
ensure caring, safe, engaging, playful and meaningful learning environments
promote communication and expression, social engagement, and collaboration
recognise children as curious, courageous, creative, and hopeful thinkers
work holistically with children, supporting them to make meaning of the world around them.

In our partnership with families we:

nurture families and value the significant role they play in children’s lives
respect and value the rich diversity of families
listen to, consult, and build collaborative & enduring relationships
actively encourage families to share their knowledge & expertise.

In our role as early childhood professional we:

commit to kind, equitable and ethical practice
are thoughtful and intentional in our pedagogical approaches
foster collaborative learning between children, families, and ourselves
engage in ongoing learning about contemporary research and evidence-based approaches to inform our practice
commit to high-quality practice through continuous improvement and professional inquiry
advocate for children, families, and the early childhood sector.

In our relationship with the community we:

build meaningful connections between children, families, communities, and contexts
are engaged with, responsive to, and work closely with local communities
recognise, respect, seek and share community knowledge and expertise
commit to reconciliation.

Our Identity

Lady Gowrie enjoys a strong heritage in early childhood education in Queensland and celebrate 83 years of operation in 2023.

In that time our organisation has evolved to where we are today which helps over 9500 families and their children all over Queensland in a variety of services and programs.

In a similar way we have evolved our identity to better reflect Lady Gowrie in the Queensland context.

Our new logo is founded on our philosophy and passion for education, while it also reflects our proud history and bright future in all aspects of early childhood education.

At its core is a clever evolution of our beginnings here in Queensland, and incorporates the colour jacaranda, as was Lady Gowrie’s wishes when she opened Love Street.

We prepare children for life, and feel our new identity better prepares us for who we are as an organisation helping the next generations of Queensland families.

Gowrie Australia

Lady Gowrie not only contributes significantly to early childhood in Queensland, but also influences the national debate as a member of the Gowrie Australia coalition.

Gowrie Australia is a coalition of not for profit early childhood organisations which were established over 83 years ago by the Commonwealth Government as a best practice demonstration model.

The Gowrie Centres were named after the then Governor Generals wife, Lady Zara Gowrie. While each state based organisation is a separate entity governed by voluntary Board of Directors, they come together as Gowrie Australia to collaborate, share best practice and undertake research.

The Gowrie organisations remain committed to the model of high quality early childhood education and care and aims to:

Provide national leadership in the high-quality provision of education and care services for young families
Conduct research into new and innovative service models
Offer a range of diverse early childhood services across Australia in local contexts
Provide training and professional development for thousands of early childhood educators annually
Engage in national networking and advocacy across the early childhood profession.
The education and care of our youngest Australians is complex, demanding, and highly responsible work. Gowrie Australia and the thousands of stakeholders across our networks take this work seriously.

Gowrie Australia informs the COAG agenda for early childhood reforms through its membership on the National Stakeholder Reference Group facilitated by the federal Department for Education, Employment and Workforce Relations.

From 2016 Reflections, produced by Gowrie Australia, has a new refreshed and revised format. Once a hard-copy quarterly early education and care magazine, Reflections now produce articles digitally every month. It is believed that this new look and feel is better suited to the opportunities for more spontaneous reading as well as discussion starters for professional reflection.

Reflections can be viewed on Professional Learning, Consultancy and Resources Page or downloaded for free on each Gowrie website listed below:

Beyond the publication, the Gowrie connection has resulted in continued professional dialogue and sharing between each Chief Executive Officer, Managers and Educators, throughout the year. With relationships firmly established, the sharing of knowledge and experience is a regular occurrence. There have been meetings and regular visits to Lady Gowrie Qld, to view and experience new ideas, pedagogy and business systems and processes.