Our Staff
Peregian Beach College Early Learning Centre has a highly qualified staff team. The staff are long-term members of the Centre and enjoy and respect the children and come to know them well during their Kindy journey.
Barbara Wearing - Director of Early Learning
Qualifications: National Nursery Nursing Examination Board (UK equivalent to Diploma in Early Years) and First Class Honours Degree in Early Childhood Studies, Certificate in Management Studies.
Barbara has worked with children and families for over 30 years. She has been fortunate to have worked in a variety of roles, with families and young children both in Australia and in the UK. During this time she has greatly enjoyed developing her skills and knowledge of different early years programmes.
She is passionate about ensuring that children receive the best possible early years’ experience, in which they are valued as individuals and where their childhoods are cherished. She loves to watch children blossom as they explore and engage in a wide range of experiences that excite and stimulate their natural thirst for learning. She prioritises building strong relationships between staff, families and children to create a positive environment where the best interests of the children are at the heart of all we do.
Taylah Maddox -Lead Educator and 2nd In Charge
Qualifications: Diploma in Early Childhood Education
Taylah has worked as an early year’s professional since 2018 first completing her Certificate III in Early Childhood Education before furthering her education to her Diploma in early childhood. Taylah’s biggest achievement is becoming a mum to her son Arlo and believes this has further attributed to her understanding in nurturing children’s play based learning and endeavours to provide an environment for children to feel safe, supported and secure. Taylah works as a lead educator in our pre-kindy room and is the centre’s second in charge.
Kate McDonald - Early Childhood Teacher
Qualifications: Bachelor of Learning Management (Early Childhood)
Kate is one of our Early Childhood Teachers and leads our kindy program. She has taught in a variety of early childhood settings for the past 18 years, including Queensland public schools, family daycare, preschools and long daycare centres.
Kate's teaching and education style is all about empowering children to become confident, independent learners. Her role is to support, facilitate and encourage children's learning while valuing routine & play-based learning.
Kate feels privileged to guide & support children in their precious and magical early childhood years.
Shyra Chapman
Qualifications: Graduate Diploma in Education (Early Phase Learning).
Shyra has been in the education sector for 16 years. She is an established Early Childhood Teacher who has explored education in a variety of roles including, an Outside School Hours Care Coordinator, a service Educational Leader, an international Camp Counsellor and more recently a Neuro-play facilitator.
She is passionate about play-based education and believes in its affects to support little learners because it is relevant and interesting to them. As an Early Childhood Teacher she enjoys thinking outside the box and creating learning opportunities in an imaginative and fun way. In recent years she has become interested in brain development and the advantages of movement for emotional regulation. She values children as capable and independent learners, her teaching philosophy encourages children to risk-take and problem-solve during play. Shyra further understands the importance of building genuine connections with children and their families to create positive and collaborative learning experiences.
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Melissa Schloss - Early Childhood Teacher
Qualifications: Diploma of Teaching Primary and Preschool
Letter of Recognition Kindergarten Teacher
Melissa has had the privilege of being an early childhood teacher for many years with Education Queensland, the Private Sector and C and K kindergartens.
Melissa loves working in close knit teams where she can assist in fostering a holistic learning
environment by building strong relationships that values children and their families.
She values each child’s uniqueness, and their individual learning styles are embraced.
Melissa believes children need opportunities that are self-directed, play experiences where children learn to cooperate, problem solve and think creatively. She aims to nurture children's confidence, natural curiosity, and love of learning.
Melissa strongly believes in a lifelong learning attitude, where risk taking is encouraged and light bulb moments are celebrated. She understands that learning is a journey filled with discovery and growth. By working together, Melissa believes we can create enriching learning experiences that support the development and success of every child.
Rhonda enjoys building a safe and secure learning environment where children are supported in generating ideas, opinions and theories about the world around them and are supported in their thinking and engagement. She delights in taking children to the next level building onto their skills and developing their independence and interdependence.
Rachael McAuley - Assistant Educator
Qualifications: Diploma of Early Childhood
Rachael works as an assistant educator in the Bunya room. She is mum to 5 beautiful boys and has always worked with children either as an educator, teacher aide or inclusion support worker. She loves being out in nature, anything crafty or arty and will burst into song at any given opportunity.
Rachael encourages and helps children to truly believe in themselves and guides them to discover what brings them joy and helps them to shine. She always endeavours to provide an environment where children feel safe, valued heard and connected to their early learning centre family. She provides comfort and shares in children’s successes and builds close, respectful relationships with families.
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Regan Forsythe Guy
Qualifications: Bachelor Of Education (Early Childhood)
Regan is both a qualified Early Childhood Teacher and Primary School Teacher. She has taught in both Queensland Public Schools and other Kindergarten settings. Regan’s greatest achievement in life, is being Mum to her three children - two adult children and her youngest who has just begun high school. Regan is a passionate advocate for play based learning in Early Childhood Development and Education. Regan loves working between our two rooms and values her experiences of connecting with the children, families and other staff members.
Emma Jackson South - Lead Educator
Qualifications: Diploma in Early Childhood Education and Care and a degree in Community Development.
Emma is originally from Scotland but has been living in Australia since 2015. Her daughter, Poppy, goes to Peregian Beach College and she has two adorable dogs, Daisy and Posy! She loves working with this age group, particularly encouraging children’s creativity through arts and crafts and has a passion for sensory and nature play.
Bianca Winter - Lead Educator
Qualifications: Diploma in Early Childhood Education
Bianca has been working in Early childhood education for 4 years. She started working after completing her Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and after a few months decided she wanted to further her education and knowledge, so signed up to study a Diploma in Early Childhood, which she has now completed. Bianca has always loved working with children, even from a young age, always wanting to help out babysitting within her family. Her favourite thing about working with children is being able to watch children grow through the years and achieve their milestones. Bianca loves to work in collaboration with families as she feels it’s the most important and beneficial thing for children to further grow and develop.
Mandy Grover - Assistant Educator
Qualifications: Certificate III Early Childhood Education & Care. Working towards Diploma of Early Childhood Education & Care
Mandy has been working in childcare for 4 years, across a wide range of ages. In her role as Assistant Educator she enjoys creating a supportive and inclusive environment where every child feels valued and understood. Mandy believes that the early years are crucial for emotional, social and cognitive development and strives to provide a safe and welcoming space for children to explore and learn.
Mandy is mum to two boys, one of whom is on the Autism spectrum, and because of this experience she is particularly passionate about inclusive play and supporting children through transitions and milestones such as starting pre-kindy/kindy, making friends and developing self confidence.
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Angie Bennett - Assistant Educator
Qualifications: Certificate III in Early Childhood, Education and Care
After having her son attend Kindy here at PBC ELC, Angie realised that being involved with pre-kindy and kindergarten aged children was something that she really enjoyed.
She decided to change her career path from beauty therapy and went on to complete her Certificate 3 in Early Childhood Education and Care.
One of Angie's key strengths is her communication skills, enabling her to building close relationships with the children and their families. She delights in her role with the children and is committed and passionate about extending her skills and expertise in early years.
