‘An integral part of the community for over 40 years!’

Hunter Early Childhood Centre, formerly Six Hats Early Childhood Service is a not-for-profit, community owned and operated long day care centre for over 40years.

Originally established to provide care for children from the community and supply much needed childcare for working women. The service was opened as, ‘The Hunter Women’s Child Care Service’ and has been a vital service within the Newcastle community.

HECC is governed by the Hunter Region Working Women’s Group. The role of the HRWWG is to work in partnership with the HECC Director and educators to ensure:

• Commitment to the philosophy of the service.

• Effective operational management of the service.

• Compliance with legislative and regulatory requirements.

• Continued satisfaction of families and staff.

For more information on Hunter Region Working Women’s Group, please head to the HRWWG tab.

Emma Bradford

Director - Nominated Supervisor

Bach. Education (Early Childhood Teaching)

I have been at Hunter Early Childhood Centre for over 9 years now and have continued my growth professionally by gaining my qualifications and experience. I have been so blessed to learn and grow as an educator, mentor and a leader over my various roles in early childhood.

I am dedicated to individualised early learning and care and believe it is my role to ensure that each family that comes to HECC is provided with the highest quality of care tailored to meet their needs.

The ability to support each child and their family is what I love to do, to mentor our educators is so rewarding and I am constantly learning which helps me to be better and grow my understanding of education and care and child development. Being an educator is a vital role to ensure each child has the best start to life with the opportunity to grow, develop and explore in their own way.

I am so proud of our team here at HECC, their hard work, dedication and personal educational philosophies are what makes them phenomenal educators, recognised by our community as the Winner of the 2019 Hunter Local Business Award - Outstanding Early Childhood Centre!