Care by age
The twos room, two to three years
The year with the most change in it and the most patience required. Language, toilets, friendships, and a great many strong opinions arriving faster than the words for them.
Two to three is the year parents most often describe as difficult and educators most often describe as their favourite, and both are reporting the same thing. A two-year-old has enough language to tell you what they want and not enough to negotiate about it, which is an intensely frustrating place to live.
The room runs at the Article 47 ratio of one adult to six for children from two to under three, in a group of no more than twelve, with a qualified group teacher in charge — which is itself a legal requirement for this age band rather than a staffing choice.
What actually changes this year
Language, enormously. Most children arrive with a few dozen words and leave with sentences, and the gap between what they can think and what they can say narrows fast enough that a lot of the frustration of the toddler room simply drains away.
Play changes from parallel to genuinely social. Two-year-olds begin to play with each other rather than alongside, which is where sharing, waiting, losing and repairing a friendship all start — and all of those are learned by doing them badly first.
And toilets, for most children, somewhere in this year. It follows the child rather than the calendar and it is not a condition of anything here.
How we handle conflict
By making the situation easier before correcting the child. Most conflict between two-year-olds is a problem of design — one of a thing, two children, no words — and the useful response is usually to change the setup rather than to lecture somebody who cannot yet hold the concept.
There is no behaviour chart in this building, no traffic lights, and no public naming of children who are struggling. A two-year-old whose name sits under a sad face all morning has learned something about themselves rather than about behaviour.
What we do instead is name what happened, name what the other child felt, and stay with it. Nora has been doing this for thirty-one years and is the person other staff ask.
Toilet learning, on the child's clock
We follow readiness rather than a deadline, and we will not tell you your child is ready because the next room has a space. That sentence exists because the pressure to say otherwise is real and commercial.
In practice: pants when you want to start, a great deal of matter-of-factness about accidents, spare clothes from home, and no comment made to the child about any of it. Regression during a house move or a new sibling is completely ordinary and does not mean starting again.
Nappies and wipes come from home. Everything else — the changing, the washing, the patience — is ours and is not billed.
What we do not do at this age
Worksheets, letter drills or anything with a right answer held by an adult. There is a whole page explaining why, and it is the request we decline most often.
We also do not assess or score your child against a scale. We observe, we write it down, and we show you the observations rather than a summary of them. Where something genuinely concerns us we raise it early and point you at Early Intervention, which is free and public.
The ratios are a legal floor, not a boast. The Article 47 ratios that govern this building are one educator to four infants aged birth to eleven months in a group of at most eight; one to five for toddlers of twelve to twenty-four months in a group of at most ten; and one to six for two- to under-three-year-olds in a group of at most twelve. Staff counted in a ratio must maintain direct line of sight and constant competent supervision at all times, and a group of two- to five-year-olds must be in the charge of a qualified group teacher. Those are floors rather than achievements, and a centre quoting you a better number should be asked how it is funded.
Included as standard
What is included
One educator to six, group of twelve
The Article 47 ratio for two to under three, with a qualified group teacher in charge of the room as the Code requires.
Toilet learning at the child's pace
No deadline, no condition on moving rooms, no comment made to the child. Nappies from home, everything else from us.
A washroom off the room
Child-height basins and toilets opening directly off the twos room rather than down a corridor.
All meals cooked on the premises
Breakfast, a cooked lunch and two snacks. Sunita cooks them in this building.
Written observations you can read
Kept on every child and shown to families rather than summarised at you.
No behaviour chart
No traffic lights and no public naming of children who are having a hard week. What we do instead is on the social and emotional page.
A rest period every afternoon
A cot, an hour, and permission not to sleep. Children who do not sleep read or do something quiet.
Outside twice a day
In our own yard, with the published weather thresholds rather than a decision made on the morning.
When to make an appointment
Signs this is worth an assessment
- Your two-year-old has opinions arriving faster than the vocabulary to express them.
- You want toilet learning handled without a deadline or a scoreboard.
- You would rather see the actual written observations than a termly summary.
- You do not want your child's name under a sad face on a wall.
- You want a room where conflict is treated as a design problem before it is treated as a behaviour problem.
- You are weighing whether to start 3-K next year and want somebody to talk it through honestly.
Twos room — what it costs
- Full-time, five days. One educator to six children in a group of no more than twelve, with a qualified group teacher in charge of the room.$395 / week
Every rate on this site is published in full on the tuition page, including the ones that make us look expensive. Meals, snacks, nappy changing, settling-in sessions and the whole curriculum are inside the weekly fee — there is no premium tier and no outside provider invoicing you separately for a music class. The two charges that are not in the weekly fee are registration, at $75 a year per family rather than per child, and late collection after 6:15pm at $1 a minute, which goes to the two members of staff who stayed. If your child is three or four, read the 3-K page before you read this one.
Questions we are actually asked
Twos room — frequently asked
What is the ratio for two-year-olds?
One educator to six children, in a group of no more than twelve, under Article 47. This age band also requires a qualified group teacher in charge of the room, which is a legal requirement rather than a staffing preference.
When should my child be toilet trained?
When they are ready, which is somewhere in this year for most children and later for plenty. We follow the child, there is no deadline, and moving up a room is never conditional on it. Regression during a house move or a new sibling is completely ordinary.
Do you use time-out or a behaviour chart?
Neither. A two-year-old whose name sits under a sad face has learned something about themselves rather than about behaviour. We name what happened, name what the other child felt, and change the situation that produced it.
Will my child be prepared for pre-K?
For the things that actually matter in September — managing a coat, a lunch, a toilet, a queue and asking an adult for help — yes, and that is what we work on. We do not teach reading or worksheets to under-fives and there is a page explaining exactly why.
What happens if my child is behind on speech?
We raise it with you early rather than waiting for a review, and we point you at Early Intervention, which is a free public service for under-threes. We are educators and we do not assess or diagnose, so what we give you is what we observed rather than a conclusion.
Related programmes
Families who read this also read
Toddler care
Walking changes everything about a room: the furniture, the floor, the ratio and the amount of the day spent outdoors.
$425 / week
Preschool
Read the 3-K page before you read this one. If your child is eligible, the City will do this for nothing and we would rather you knew.
$365 / week
Potty training
We follow your child rather than a deadline, and we will not tell you they are ready because the next room has a space.
Included
Social & emotional
Sharing, waiting, losing, apologising and calming down. The hardest curriculum in the building and the one that predicts school the best.
IncludedTuesday and Thursday mornings, while the children are here
Come and see the room
A tour here happens during a session, in the room your child would actually be in, at the time of day they would be in it. You meet the person who leads that room rather than only the director, and you see the noise and the mess that are genuinely there. It takes an hour. If your child is three or four we will ask whether you have applied for free 3-K or Pre-K for All before we quote you a rate, because a good many families should not be paying us at all.