Goodstart St Leonards – Christie St – recognised for innovative practice

The team at Goodstart Early Learning St Leonards – Christie St have been awarded the NSW & ACT Goodies Innovation Award for Centres, rounding out a successful 2020 for the service, during which Centre Director, Marlene van Vuuren was recognised with the NSW & ACT CEOs Goodstarter of the year award.

 

A number of innovative practices and programs were behind the award, including the development of an online classroom that aligned with each children’s learning journey during periods of disrupted attendance thanks to the presence of COVID-19 in the community. 

 

Zoom classes and events included online story time, creating fun cooking videos where they asked children to make recipes at home with Mum and Dad and shared occasions such as the Easter hat parade, Anzac Day & Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day.

 

Community outreach innovations included shared learning experiences such as “R U Ok” day, health and hygiene practices and the celebration of the service’s 10th Birthday through a social media video which concurrently encouraged social distancing.

 

Being able to continue working with their families and communities for the best outcomes despite all the chaos was what inspired the Goodstart St Leonards team to continually innovate throughout 2020, a spokesperson for the service said.

 

The St Leonard’s team, centre director Marlen van Vuuren said, are extremely passionate, and ideas on how to innovate came from all team members, brought to life through the support they gave one another. 

 

“The St Leonards team is like a family and there’s never a dull moment,” she added. 

 

New innovative ways of learning and connecting are still continuing and have become a regular part of the program with members of the community also embracing innovation.  

 

The Mayor of Ku-ring-gai joined the service for Remembrance Day for a virtual visit and the children also recently went on a virtual tour of the SES headquarters.

 

To view the “many innovative ways” that Goodstart St Leonards continued learning, supporting families and their community view this short video. A video of the team reaction to the win may be viewed on the service’s Facebook page, here.