The pitter-patter of tiny feet will soon be heard at Cross Country Kids Child Care, a unique new childcare facility under construction at Mt Samson.

The new centre combines the passion of Cedar Creek local Fiona Howson and the experience of Tailored Childcare Management (TCM), a Brisbane-based family company that has been offering services in the childcare field since 1993.

TCM CEO Vicki Ward said the new centre, to be co-located in a new community hub housing a café and general store, would offer a style of childcare unlike any other facility in the region.

She said the centre would be based on the Montessori educational model, which fosters children’s love of learning and encourages independence by providing activities and materials which children use at their own pace.

Seeking a career change, Ms Howson, a registered nurse, identified the need for more childcare facilities to service the growing Mt Samson region five years ago.

She said the Montessori program was “very well suited” to the Mt Samson, Dayboro and Samford area, “because you tend to find people want a more relaxed lifestyle there”.

“Montessori encompasses a lot of emphasis on the environment that the child is placed in on a day-to-day basis,” she said.  “The kind of education that parents seek for their children is environmentally focused a lot of the time, particularly at that young age.

“We don’t offer as much technology, it’s more hands-on with earthy pursuits like gardening and an emphasis on animals and things like self-respect as well as respecting other children.”

Ms Howson’s daughter Maxine, a Queensland Conservatorium student, will also bring a music element to the program.

Ms Howson said Cross Country Kids, located on Winn Road next to Mt Samson State School, would take some of the headaches out of childcare, by having a registered nurse operate on site and by providing children’s food and nappies.

“I’ve always been a working mother,” Ms Howson said. “If a mother’s working and is trying to pack up children, nappies, food and trying to get them in the car and get them somewhere by a certain time, it just adds more stress to the day.

“Our whole emphasis is having a place where parents are comfortable placing their children, but also to make it as easy for them at the beginning of the day as it is at the end.”

Cross Country Kids Child Care, which will cater to 75 children, is scheduled to open early-2010.

The centre is now taking expressions of interest from parents, with enrolments filling fast. Phone 0422 083 522.