About

Welcome

to Butterfly Haven

Drawing inspiration from the vision of Montessori and the creativity of Steiner, Butterfly Haven offers a unique preschool experience for 3 to 6-year-olds living in Melbourne. Designed by early childhood educator Amy Henderson, Butterfly Haven’s carefully developed enrichment program empowers your child and builds life-long skills for school and beyond.

Meet Our Director

Amy Henderson

Amy has a background in early childhood education with many years of teaching experience with 3 to 6-year-olds, a Bachelor of Education, Montessori teacher training for 3-6-year-olds and Steiner early childhood training. Inspired by both these modalities Amy has created her own program drawing inspiration from the vision of Montessori and the creativity of Steiner.

After studying child development and education, Amy became passionate about ensuring children feel seen, heard and empowered as this is key to becoming healthy joyful adults. This passion guided her towards Montessori Education. Here, she was inspired by the joy and confidence children developed and how deeply the learning was absorbed by each child.

After having children of her own, Amy discovered Waldorf/Steiner education. In Steiner, her children’s creativity and sense of self thrived. She began to envision an environment that embraced the beauty and wisdom in both these philosophies, together with her instinctive understanding of children.

Three years ago, this vision became a reality with Butterfly Haven.

A unique preschool experience

Butterfly Haven provides a unique preschool experience, carefully designed to help children explore their learning potential and capabilities. Our program gives children the opportunity to feel valued, respected and successful out in the world, before starting school. Holding emotional space for each child is fundamental to the program as we recognise that supporting a child’s connection to their self-worth and their inner compass allows them to expand, explore, grow and learn. Our goal is to ensure each child feels seen, heard, valued and empowered in a space that invites the natural flow of learning.

We believe every child has the right to feel

Confident

We provide a safe and nurturing space for children to learn, grow & explore.

Respected

We understand the abilities of 3 to 6-year-olds and respect their decisions

Independent

We encourage natural skills development to build independence

Empowered

We cultivate a consistently loving rhythm to support and empower growth

Competent

We immerse children in a space that nurtures their desire to do for themselves

Supported

We create an environment where children are content, centred and cooperative