Goodstart Payneham

A family-focused centre that feels like home

We play and learn on the lands of the Kaurna people.

403-407 Payneham Road, Felixstow, 5070, SA

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6:30am to 6:30pm, Monday to Friday

Open every weekday of the year, except public holidays

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Nursery
Toddler
Preschool

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About our centre

Welcome to Goodstart Payneham

At Goodstart Payneham, we’re all about family. Our centre feels like visiting Nonna’s house - warm, welcoming, and filled with love. Conveniently located in Payneham, we offer high-quality early learning supported by longstanding educators, strong community connections, and enriching programs tailored to every child’s needs.

Our team, many of whom have been with us for over a decade, provides consistency and a stable environment for children. We offer a play-based curriculum, nutritious meals, and fun community events that bring families together, creating lasting memories and fostering a love for learning.

What are our Centre environments like?

Our centre has four rooms - Nursery, Toddlers, Pre Kindy and Preschool - with dedicated indoor and outdoor learning facilities tailored to each age group. We offer:

Child-Centred Learning: We offer a play-based curriculum tailored to each child’s interests and developmental needs, featuring activities like the “Happy Feet” dance class for children aged 2-5 years.
A Focus on Sustainability and Cultural Awareness: Our daily practices include gardening, cultural cooking classes, and teaching sustainability, fostering a well-rounded learning experience.
Outdoor Exploration and Physical Development: Our outdoor spaces encourage exploration with large natural play areas and activities that promote environmental awareness and physical growth.

What makes our centre special?

Family-focused culture: A warm, welcoming environment that feels like home.
Experienced educators: A longstanding, dedicated team providing stability and care.
Highly qualified teachers: Three Bachelor-qualified teachers delivering exceptional early learning programs.
Multilingual support: Educators fluent in Hindi, Mandarin, and Arabic.
Community engagement: Events like Easter Drive By and Christmas Lights Display strengthen family bonds.
Nutritious meals and MasterChef classes: Encouraging healthy eating and independence.
Oral hygiene education: Preschool children learn the importance of brushing their teeth after lunch.

Book Your Tour Today!

Come and experience the warmth of Goodstart Payneham for yourself. Meet our passionate educators, explore our vibrant learning spaces, and see how we can support your child’s early learning journey.

Tour times don’t suit your schedule? Contact us to arrange a visit that works for you.
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Learn more about Goodstart Payneham

At Goodstart Payneham, our philosophy centres around the belief that every child is a unique individual with their own interests and strengths. We embrace a play-based learning approach that nurtures curiosity and creativity, allowing children to explore their world in meaningful ways.
We prioritise:
1. Holistic Development: Supporting cognitive, emotional, social, and physical growth through engaging and developmentally appropriate activities.
2. Family and Community Engagement: Building strong partnerships with families and the community to create a supportive network for each child.
3. Inclusive Environment: Celebrating diversity and ensuring that all children feel valued, respected, and included.
4. Lifelong Learning: Instilling a love of learning by encouraging exploration, problem-solving, and critical thinking.
Through our philosophy, we aim to create a safe, nurturing environment where children can thrive and become confident, capable learners.
Children need to feel safe and supported to learn and grow, so we promote key educator relationships between our educators and children. Your child will have at least one educator (their key educator) who takes them under their wing and really gets to know them.
Our Key Educator relationships help children form secure attachments. Educators work closely with smaller groups and individual children to better understand each child. These relationships lead to improved outcomes for children as we foster more communication between families and educators.
We inform families regularly about their child's progress and welcome family involvement in our centre events and activities.  
At Goodstart, we believe all children deserve the best possible start in life, which includes access to high-quality early childhood education and care. We offer:
- Discounts on multiple days
- All day sessions
- Discounted shorter sessions
- Fee assistance programs for families that need support.
We work closely with parents to ensure the individual needs, interests and strengths of the children are considered, developing learning goals to reflect the same. Using StoryPark, a wonderful communication platform, we stay in close touch with families and ensure they are well informed about their children’s development and achievements.
Click here to book your tour or call our Family Services team to find out more on 1800 222 543

View a Sample Menu

Curious about the wholesome meals your child will enjoy? At Goodstart Payneham, we provide delicious and nutritious meals crafted to fuel growing minds and bodies. Our menu is thoughtfully designed to meet children's nutritional needs while introducing them to a variety of flavours they'll love. We cater for all allergy and dietary requirements.

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Testimonials from our Families

View the full Family Testimonial videos on YouTube.

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My son has been at Goodstart Payneham since he was 5 months old (full-time) in the nursery room. All the educators and admin staff are fantastic and amazing. They are so supportive and patient, and we’ve received millions of advice throughout my son’s development journey. It has a great environment and learning facilities. Children can play safely in the huge backyard, and my son loves planting and eating vegetables (cherry tomatoes, particularly in summer) from the garden. And he also loves nutritious lunch freshly cooked by chef, Dave. Plus many more! He started Kindergarten program here this term for 5 days and he absolutely enjoys what he learns everyday. We can clearly see his happiness and maturity which is thankfully encouraged and supported by beautiful team. I strongly recommend Goodstart Payneham to every parent, especially young families just like us.

Christina Lee

What a fabulous friendly environment 💜 The staff have been very caring and inviting and have a very family feel about them as well as teaching our kids many new things each and every day. We have done a few daycare moves over the years and our now 5yr old is loving getting ready for kindy in this new facility of hers. She has built some lovely friendships with the staff and her peers. The biggest thing for us was finding stability and at this center all the staff have been working at this address for upto 17yrs and they really do put alot of effort into our children, we even had our first parent teacher interview which we thought was great, we feel more of a connection with the staff as we could see they really do want what is best for us and our children and they want to know how they can make it better for us. Five stars all round, well done guys, wish we had chosen you alot sooner. Don't worry about the size of the rooms, the team manage the space very well and they do a fabulous job of keeping the kids stimulated.

Brooke Walmsley

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When every moment counts, make them Goodstart moments.

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Jessica Vatsilas

Centre Director

Hello, my name is Jessica Vatsilas and I am the Centre Director at Goodstart Payneham.

I’ve been privileged to be part of the Goodstart Payneham family for 19 years, including 7 years as Centre Director. My journey here has been incredibly rewarding, and I’m deeply committed to providing a nurturing, safe, and aesthetically welcoming environment for every child. I firmly believe that the first five years of a child’s life are crucial, and our developmentally appropriate curriculums and programs are designed to set a strong foundation for lifelong learning.

As a passionate and dedicated leader, I focus on mentoring and empowering my team to be their best. I’m proud of the positive, collaborative environment we foster, where we work together to provide the highest quality care and education.

At Goodstart Payneham, we place great importance on building strong, trusting relationships with both children and families through Key Educator Relationships. These relationships help children feel a sense of belonging in their new learning environment. I believe every child has the right to learn and grow at their own pace, follow their interests, and make decisions that empower them to build confidence and agency.

While Goodstart Payneham might not be brand new, we are REAL, and we have heart and soul!

We look forward to meeting you and your family. Come in and say hi!

Call us on 8365 0105, or click the 'Book a tour' button above to arrange a personalised tour. If you’d like a tour outside of the offered tour times please contact me so that we can organise this for you.