Centre Managers celebrated at G8 Education’s 2023 National Conference

G8 Education has celebrated its Centre Leaders at its annual Centre Manager Awards as part of the 2023 G8 National Conference.  

The Award winners were as follows: 

• Transformation Award: Venita Rutley, Centre Manager at Community Kids Heatley  

• Rising Star Award: Hannah Jordan, Centre Manager at The Learning Sanctuary Mary Street

• Business Award: Kimberley Fuller, Nurture One Wangaratta 

• Family and Community Award: Venita Rutley, Centre Manager at Community Kids Heatley

• Safety Award: Amy McCormack, Centre Manager Community Kids Narre Warren  

• Environment and Sustainability Award: Sabrina Symando, Centre Manager at Creative Garden Mount Annan 

• Quality Practice Award: Pavithra De Alwis, Centre Manager at Kindy Patch Clarinda

• Culture and Team Engagement Award: Julie Turner, Centre Manager at Great Beginnings Kenwick

• Team Development Award: Sarah McCulloch, Centre Manager at Aldinga Kinder Haven 

• Centre Manager of the Year Award: Sabrina Symando, Centre Manager at Creative Garden Mount Annan

• Area Manager of the Year Award: Cassandra Black, Area Manager in Victoria.  

All the award winners will have the chance to go on an international study tour to New Zealand later this year, facilitated by Childspace Early Childhood Institute.

Sabrina Syamando was one of two dual-award winners, taking out the award for Centre Manager of the Year and the Environment and Sustainability Award categories for the work she does at Creative Garden Mount Annan, an experience she described as “truly humbling”. 

“I am so proud to lead the long-standing, talented team of educators and teachers at Creative Garden Mount Annan.” 

Ms Syamando’s service was recently given the Exceeding rating during an assessment and rating visit, however the team will continue to strive for improvement. 

“The progress doesn’t stop,” she explained, “we want to continue improving and creating a sustainable future for our community.”   

“We promote children’s agency and independence by allowing them to actively participate in meeting our sustainability goals,” said Ms Syamando.  

The service undertakes a variety of activities around the broader sustainability theme, including  splitting out their meal leftovers into general waste, recycling and compost, children helping their educators with the vegetable garden upkeep, children feeding the chickens and thinking of creative ways to reuse and recycle when crafting their own projects.

“We are educating the leaders of the future and so we want to build those leadership and innovation capabilities from an early age,” Ms Syamando said. 

For G8 Education’s new CEO, Pejman Okhovat, the awards were a chance to get up close and personal with some of the talent in the G8 network. 

“The dedication these leaders have for supporting the best outcomes for our children and teams every day is remarkable,” he said.  

“I am so proud to stand alongside such amazing leaders and all of our team of educators and teachers because I know how important the work they do is in laying the foundations for children’s learning, development and wellbeing during the critical first five years of life.”  

The sixth annual conference theme – Belong, Inspire, Transform – led the activities of the more than 500 delegates who travelled to the Gold Coast for the three day gathering. 

Learn more about G8 Education here.