Endeavour Early Learning - Centre Director | Hillarys, WA

When children feel safe to explore, connect with others, and develop a strong sense of who they are, they build the foundations for lifelong learning, wellbeing, and compassionate relationships with the world around them.

That belief sits at the heart of Endeavour Early Learning.

We are a community-based, not-for-profit early learning service where every child is known, relationships are valued, and educators have the time, support, and trust they need to do their best work.

We believe that children who are respected, supported and encouraged to be themselves are more likely to grow into secure, curious and compassionate people. Our emerging philosophy is being deliberately shaped around that belief and three values that are already firmly part of who we want to be: Respect, Empathy and Curiosity.

The Centre Director and Education Director work together as a leadership team. One focuses on building strong operational foundations, while the other leads educational practice and development.

As Centre Director, you will lead Endeavour's operational, compliance, workforce, and governance areas that help educators do their best work and ensure children receive safe, high-quality care every day.

This role could suit you if...

- You love early childhood education, but your strengths extend beyond the educational program.
- You notice when a policy is overdue for review.
- You know who is qualified, who is on leave and whether tomorrow's roster works.
- You understand that a missing consent form or expired document isn't "just admin".
- You can walk into an assessment and rating visit knowing where the evidence is.
- You enjoy bringing order to systems, identifying risks before they become problems and making complicated regulatory requirements understandable to others.
- You can work constructively with an Education Director because you understand that strong services require both excellent educational and operational leadership.

What you'll be responsible for day to day

You will help ensure Endeavour consistently meets its obligations under the National Quality Framework, National Law and Regulations and applicable Western Australian requirements. Regulatory compliance and Responsible Person duties

You'll maintain oversight of areas such as:

· regulatory and compliance documentation;

· staffing records, qualifications and required checks;

· educator-to-child ratios and responsible-person coverage;

· service notifications and statutory documentation;

· policies, procedures and supporting evidence;

· preparation for regulatory visits, assessment and rating activity;

· compliance actions, improvement requirements and follow-up; and

· ensuring identified compliance obligations are actually implemented in day-to-day practice.

This role is about more than just keeping documents organised. We want someone who can confidently ask:

Are we compliant?

Can we demonstrate it?

Is what is written in our policies genuinely happening in practice?

Policy governance

You will coordinate Endeavour's policy framework end-to-end:

· drafting and updating policies and procedures;

· maintaining a clear policy register;

· monitoring scheduled review dates;

· identifying changes required because of legislation, regulation, guidance or service practice;

· coordinating appropriate consultation and approvals;

· maintaining version control;

· communicating policy changes to relevant people; and

· tracking implementation so that review is more than an administrative exercise.

Enrolment and occupancy management

You will oversee the operational side of the child and family journey into Endeavour, including:

· enquiries and enrolment administration;

· waitlist management;

· maintaining accurate enrolment records;

· coordinating commencement and transition requirements;

· ensuring required permissions, medical information, and documentation are in place;

· monitoring vacancies and utilisation; and

· maintaining clear communication with prospective and existing families.





Enrolment is often a family's first experience with Endeavour, so we want the process to feel organised, responsive, and welcoming.

Rostering, workforce planning, and leave management A well-managed roster impacts everything, from compliance and educator wellbeing to the daily experience of children. You will coordinate:

· staff rosters;

· annual leave and other planned absences;

· short-term leave coverage;

· ratio and qualification requirements;

· casual staffing availability;

· responsible-person coverage;

· forward workforce planning; and

· operational responses when staffing circumstances change.

Endeavour chooses to operate above minimum staffing ratios and favours working with a pool of trusted casuals who are familiar to staff, children and families. Careful workforce planning is key to keeping this commitment.

Recruitment and onboarding

You'll coordinate recruitment activity for educators and other service positions, including:

· identifying workforce needs;

· advertising vacancies;

· candidate screening and interview coordination;

· pre-employment compliance requirements;

· reference and qualification checks;

· onboarding documentation; and

· ensuring new employees have a explicit and organised start.

Our priority is building a stable team of people who contribute positively to Endeavour's values, culture and standard of care.

Systems and records

Endeavour is transitioning to an end-to-end childcare management system (e.g. OWNA) to support its centre administration and operational processes. This means you will have the opportunity to oversee the system setup to ensure it is efficient, accurate, user-friendly, and reliable.

Board and governance reporting

As a community-based not-for-profit service, the Centre Director will work closely with the Committee/Board and provide clear operational reporting to support good governance and informed decision-making, including:

enrolments and utilisation;

· staffing and workforce matters;

· leave and recruitment;

· compliance;

· incidents and regulatory matters;

· policy reviews;

· operational risks;

· grants;

· key service metrics; and

· emerging issues requiring governance attention.

We want someone who can turn centre information into clear, helpful reports without overwhelming our volunteer Board.

Leadership built around Respect, Empathy and Curiosity

As an Endeavour Director, you are expected to lead by example across the Centre's values:

Respect means treating children, colleagues, families and volunteers as people whose perspectives matter. As a Centre Director, it means being clear and professional, following fair processes and addressing issues directly rather than allowing uncertainty or poor communication to grow.

Empathy means recognising the person behind the operational issue. A parent asking repeated questions may be anxious about leaving their child. An educator requesting leave may be balancing pressures we cannot see. Empathy does not mean avoiding accountability; it means applying expectations with humanity and sound judgment.

Curiosity means asking questions before reaching conclusions. It means looking at an inefficient process and wondering how it could work better, investigating the cause of a recurring compliance issue rather than repeatedly fixing the symptom, and remaining open to evidence that challenges the way things have always been done.

We're looking for a Centre Director who brings these values to life with structure, accountability, and follow-through.

A service continuing to evolve

Endeavour is currently exploring and beginning to adopt The Curiosity Approach® as part of the continued development of our philosophy and educational practice. We see this as a journey,



not something that's already fully in place.

The Education Director will lead much of the educational practice component of this work, but the Centre Director has an important role in enabling it: ensuring that staffing, systems, purchasing, policies, budgets, and operational decisions support the kind of practice the service is trying to create.

That reflects the partnership at the heart of this leadership structure.

The Education Director leads educational quality and educator capability.

The Centre Director creates the operational conditions that allow that quality to flourish.

What we're hoping you can bring to the role…

- An ACECQA-approved Diploma in Early Childhood Education and Care or higher qualification;
- Substantial experience working within an early childhood education and care service;
- Demonstrated experience in a Centre Director, Assistant Director, Nominated Supervisor, Responsible Person or similarly senior operational role;
- The knowledge, experience and suitability required to perform responsible-person duties and, if appointed, nominated-supervisor responsibilities;
- Strong working knowledge of the National Quality Framework, National Law, National Regulations and National Quality Standard;
- Experience managing compliance documentation and maintaining audit-ready records;
- Experience developing, reviewing or administering policies and procedures;
- Strong rostering and workforce-planning capability;
- Experience with enrolment administration and centre management systems;
- Recruitment and onboarding experience;
- Confidence-producing management or Board-level reports;
- Excellent written communication and attention to detail; and
- The judgment to know when to act independently, when to collaborate with the Education Director and when a matter needs to be escalated to the Committee/Board.

Experience within a community-based or not-for-profit early childhood service would be highly regarded. Experience with OWNA, or a comparable early childhood management platform, would also be highly regarded.

The successful candidate will also need to satisfy all applicable Working with Children, child safety, child protection and other regulatory requirements associated with the position.

What might feel different about Endeavour?

We've made some practical investments because we believe the conditions for educators directly impact the quality of care children receive. We operate above minimum staffing ratios. This creates greater resilience in the roster and gives educators more opportunity to slow down, respond thoughtfully and build meaningful relationships with children.

We build our own team and pool of trusted casual employees, creating greater familiarity and continuity for children, families and colleagues.

We aim to give each room a full day of planning. Quality educational practice requires protected time to observe, reflect, collaborate and plan.

We have strong staff and family retention. Long-term relationships are part of what makes a genuine community service feel different.

We invest in professional development. Learning should improve practice, build skills, and help people grow in their careers, not just meet compliance requirements.

Our leadership team has invested in Dare to Lead development. We want courage, trust, accountability, and open conversations to be part of how Endeavour is led.

We offer two extra weeks of wellness leave after 12 months of service, because we know sustainable careers in early childhood need time to rest and recharge.

We are community-based and not-for-profit. With no external shareholders, all our resources and decisions support the service, children, families, educators, and the Community.

What works best for you?

Although this is an immediate requirement for the Centre, securing the right leader for Endeavour is the most important factor for the Community we support. This means we are also open to considering Directors looking for a casual, short-term arrangement while we wait to secure someone permanently, and includes considering part time (e.g. 2 or more days per week, or reduced hours across 5 days)

📌 Centre Director (Hillarys)
🏢 Valrose
📍 Hillarys