Shaping the Sanctuary Vision: Why Our Annual Planning Matters

When we first created Sanctuary, the Vision began taking shape long before the doors of our first centre ever opened. It has always been clear to us that the best outcomes for children are achieved when we invest deeply in the people who care for them every day. Our Vision is not a corporate slogan — it is a lived commitment. It represents who we are, how we show up for children, and the impact we want to have in their early years, and long after they leave us.

Every year, we take time to pause and reconnect with this Vision. While many organisations move from one calendar year to the next without true reflection, our Annual Planning process is one of the most important things we do. It is what anchors our culture, strengthens our community, and reminds us why Sanctuary is a family-owned organisation with a heart-first approach — not just another child care service.

Before we talk strategy, before we set goals, before we look ahead — we reflect.
This has become a non-negotiable part of our rhythm.

We ask ourselves:

• What do we have to celebrate from the year?
• What have we learnt?
• Where are our strengths, and also our growth edges?
• What worked well, and what didn’t?

These moments of reflection remind us that growth doesn’t come from constantly doing more — it comes from deeply understanding the “why” behind what we choose to keep doing, improve, or evolve. We then invite our Head Office team to reflect too, with the same honesty and openness: What do we want more of? What do we want less of? Where are we being called to lift the bar? Their insights ensure the Vision is not just a leadership exercise — it is a collective one.

Sanctuary’s Vision is so strong because it is built with the voices of our people — our educators, our families, and our children.

• Our children’s voices remind us that joy, curiosity, belonging and PLAY are the heartbeat of early childhood.
• Our families’ voices ground us in connection, trust, and community — because childcare is deeply relational, not transactional.
• Our educators’ voices form the foundation of everything. They are the ones who live this vision every day in practice.

When we listen to all three, we build something real — a Vision that doesn’t live in a document, but in the culture people feel when they walk through our doors. This is what belonging looks like in action. This is what shared ownership feels like.

Each year, we unveil a theme that becomes our roadmap for living the Vision. For 2026, our theme is Elevate to Great — a commitment to refining, uplifting and strengthening everything that makes Sanctuary a safe, inspiring place for children, families and educators.

But a theme is only powerful when it is lived and that happens through our Annual Planning process.

Both our Head Office and Centre Leadership teams step away from the busyness of the everyday to reflect on their centre’s purpose, their community, and the children and families they serve. We ask our Leadership teams to journal on questions like:

• What inspires you to create a great plan for yourself and your team this year?
• How does that inspiration apply uniquely to your centre community?
• What do you need to walk away with absolute clarity on, to execute your vision with confidence?
  
  

This reflective process matters because each Sanctuary centre is unique. No two communities are the same, so no two plans are the same. We do not hand down a rigid checklist. We empower our leaders to tailor Sanctuary’s strategic direction in a way that genuinely supports their people and their families.

Something transformative happens when educators feel not just included, but genuinely influential.

That is what makes Sanctuary feel different to families — even when they don’t realise this planning is happening behind the scenes. It shows up in the warmth of the welcome, the security of routines, the creativity in learning environments, and the way children are seen and heard.