Catherine Rostron wins inaugural REED Educator of the Year Award

Catherine Rostron, an early childhood educator and team leader has secured the inaugural REED Educator of the Year Award at a ceremony held at the Ibis Perth last month. 

 

REED – Regional Early Education and Development – was established in 2018 in response to challenges identified by early childhood education and care (ECEC) services in more than 20 communities across the West Australian Wheatbelt region. 

 

A package of funding for the implementation of REED was approved by the Department of Communities in conjunction with Lotterywest to support the transition of the governance and management of some 20 services to REED over a two year time frame. 

 

Ms Rostron, who works at the REED Cunderdin service, was recognised with the Jill Cameron Educator of the Year Award, presented in honour of Jill Cameron, an advocate of the REED service model, who has been involved in the project from its inception, and who has been instrumental in its success. 

 

Her award was based on nominations from parents and the broader community, and Ms Rostron was the ultimate winner from a cohort of 16, and was one of five announced at the ceremony, which was held as part of a two day live-in conference, representing the first opportunity for all 100+ REED staff and Board members to come together since the implementation of a complex merger process that began three years ago. 

 

The conference focused on ‘Raising Safety-Wise Children’, promoting educators’ knowledge of the critical importance of child protection, child safe organisations and workplace health and safety in the current COVID-19 environment. 

 

Together with additional cultural and creative program related content the conference equipped educators to better understand, plan and implement strategies to address the challenges they share working in their small relatively isolated services in small communities. 

 

The five awards that were announced at the Conference dinner were:

 

• Outstanding Achievement Award – Amanda Richter – REED Corrigin
• Bright Future Award – Jesse Horne – REED Darkan
• Shining Star Award – REED Merredin – Accepted by Team Leader Karalyn Walsh
• Exceptional Leadership Award – Melissa Elliott – Cluster Manager North
• Jill Cameron Educator of the Year Award – Catherine Rostron – REED Cunderdin

 

For more information about REED, please visit the website, here.