• Tailoured Face-to-Face Professional Development

    STEPPING STONES offers tailoured, face-to-face professional development that is built around your service goals, team context, and everyday practice. We don’t deliver generic workshops, we create learning experiences that respond directly to your educators, your environment, and your priorities.

    Built Around Your Goals

    We take the time to understand your service context, current challenges, and team dynamics — grounding every session in the Connect – Regulate – Guide – Reflect Framework. This allows us to design professional learning that is relevant, meaningful, and immediately applicable, not abstract or one-size-fits-all.

    Research-Informed. Practice-Ready.

    Our face-to-face training is grounded in evidence, shaped by real-world early childhood practice, and delivered through the Connect – Regulate – Guide – Reflect Framework. Educators leave with a clear understanding of why practice matters and how to apply it confidently in their day-to-day work.

    This is learning designed to strengthen pedagogy, not add to workload.

    Flexible and Collaborative Delivery

    Our face-to-face sessions are designed to work within the realities of early learning services, grounded in the Connect – Regulate – Guide – Reflect Framework. We collaborate with you to determine the most effective format — from staff meetings and in-service days to leadership sessions and whole-team professional learning.

    Every session is shaped with intention, not delivered off the shelf.

    Led by People Who Know the Sector

    STEPPING STONES professional learning is facilitated by experienced early childhood practitioners who understand the complexities of the sector. Our facilitators bring deep pedagogical knowledge, lived experience, and a commitment to creating learning spaces that feel safe, reflective, and professionally challenging — all grounded in the Connect – Regulate – Guide – Reflect Framework.

    We support educators to think deeply, reflect honestly, and build confidence in their practice.

  • Book Your Group Training Session

    service workshops, leadership development, educational leadership support, quality improvement planning, behaviour guidance, and reflective practice.

  • Additional cost for 50km outside of Newcastle NSW.

    Section image

    ECE Leadership Series

    This series delves into the pivotal role that leaders play in early learning by mentoring and guiding educators to enhance their practice.

    Part one: Explore the key responsibilities of a leader in the field of early childhood education.

    Part two: Unpack on how educational leaders and their leadership teams uphold the National Quality Standards.

    Part three: Discuss how leaders advocate for play-based learning and integrated teaching and learning approaches.

    Part four: Dive into how leaders guide services in how they document individual children's learning in meaningful ways that uphold regulations and standards.

    Each workshop will provide both relevant and related strategies as well as reflective activities for participants to engage in.

    Travel costs will be added for services outside of the Newcastle area

    Duration: 6 hours

    Section image

    STEM - Three Part Series

    Empower educators with the tools and knowledge to seamlessly integrate STEM into the learnign environment, fostering a love for learning in young mind.

    Part One: Unpack theoretical perspectives around STEM and how it crosses many areas of development.

    Part Two: Review hands-onexperiencesthat can be implemented for all age groups to create strong STEM program.

    Part Three: Exploring how to create STEM-friendly environments for young children, where exploration, play, and learning are key and how they can be embedded into daily routines.

    Resources are provided.

    Travel costs will be added for services outside of the Newcastle area

    Duration: 4.5 hours

    Section image

    Weekend Training

    Book your training for a Saturday or Sunday.


    This can be conducted face to face or Virtually.

    Travel costs for face-to-face will be added for centres 50kms outside of the Newcastle area.

    Section image

    4 hour

    Behaviour workshop weekend training

    Behaviour & Regulation: The Complete Journey

    Behaviour & Regulation: The Complete Journey

    From brain science to the full 8-Stage Journey — this workshop brings together everything educators need to understand and respond to children's behaviour, in one complete, connected experience.

    Participants will explore why we expect young children to show judgement and self-control their brains aren't yet capable of, how to reframe "attention-seeking" as genuine connection-seeking, and a full toolbox of trauma-informed, connection-first strategies — before walking through the complete 8-Stage Journey of dysregulation, from Calm through to Debrief, with practical, brain-based guidance for how to respond at every single stage.

    This isn't a workshop of quick behaviour management tricks. It's a grounded, evidence-informed, deeply practical session built around one core belief: children don't need perfect educators — they need consistent, connected ones.

    Delivered by Janine Kelly, Founder of STEPPING STONES, Certified Trainer and Assessor, ECA National Conference Speaker and author of The Connected Child, with over 30 years of early childhood experience across Australia and Canada.

    CONNECT • REGULATE • GUIDE • REFLECT

    Travel costs for face-to-face will be added for centres 50kms outside of the Newcastle area.

    Light refreshments provided.

    Section image

    4 hour Weekend Blended workshops

    Creating Meaningful Environments: From Inspiring Setups to Real Curriculum

    Creating Meaningful Environments: From Inspiring Setups to Real Curriculum

    This training opportunity goes beyond our Inspiring Setups content to work directly with your team on building a meaningful curriculum tailored to your different age groups and environments.

    By unpacking the interests, goals, and unique needs of the children currently in your care, your team will leave equipped to create environments that genuinely support what those children are curious about and working toward — not a generic setup, but one built specifically around your service, your children, and your goals.

    This is hands-on, practical work — your team walks away not just understanding the theory behind the environment as the "third teacher," but with a real curriculum plan ready to implement.

    Delivered by Janine Kelly, Founder of STEPPING STONES, with over 30 years of early childhood experience across Australia and Canada, and a strong foundation in Reggio Emilia-inspired practice.

    CONNECT • REGULATE • GUIDE • REFLECT

    Travel costs for face-to-face will be added for centres 50kms outside of the Newcastle area.

    Light refreshments provided.

  • Let’s design PD that meets the needs of your team

    Cookie Use
    We use cookies to ensure a smooth browsing experience. By continuing we assume you accept the use of cookies.
    Learn More