Roberts come home to make dreams a reality

For the last few years Mrs Roberts was working in Canberra as the director of a long day care centre.

However, before getting to the nation’s capital, both Mrs Roberts and her husband Michael grew up in Cootamundra.

Since July last year they’ve been turning a home set on two acres into Creekside Kids – a centre for early childhood learning for 24 children aged up to five-years-old.

“I’ve always wanted to own my own centre,” Mrs Roberts said.

“This place came up and it was everything I was looking for,” she said.

While educating young children has been her passion and her career, moving to Cootamundra wasn’t just about starting a business.

“With our children we wanted a less city-centric lifestyle, for them to grow up in a country town,” Mrs Roberts said.

The Roberts’ eldest, Layla, is going to the same school her mum and grandmother went to.

“There’s the chance to do things after school for the kids, that you don’t have time to do in the city,” she said.

“You work day and night then have to spend 20 minutes driving home. Here, you can walk everywhere.”

With plenty of experience in early childhood education, Mrs Roberts said Creekside Kids was about providing a way for children to learn through nature before school.

As well as the usual playground, toys and technology there’s plans for a veggie patch and for chooks.

“There’s so much you can learn from planting a vegetable, watching it grow, then picking it and using it,” Mrs Roberts said.

“We’ve employed five local residents to work at the centre, they’re all qualified except for one trainee."

The centre’s chef is also an educator and will help expand the lesson of where food comes from.

“It’s not just ‘day care’, it’s a full-on curriculum that is based off the National Early Learning Years Framework,” Mrs Roberts said.

While the state government is yet to deliver the final tick of approval for the centre, Mrs Roberts said an open-day earlier over the weekend saw hundreds inspect the centre for themselves. 

“A lot of people who had put in wait-list applications without seeing the centre were blown away,” she said.

The Roberts paid tribute to Mrs Roberts’ parents, Lynne and Peter O’Connor, who had been “tireless helpers” in getting the centre ready, as well as the local tradesmen.

“We appreciate all their help in getting everything done,” Mrs Roberts said.