General News
Provider
Workforce
2024 KindiCare Excellence Award winners announced
Freya Lucas
Dec 05, 2024
Save
The winners of the 2024 KindiCare Excellence Awards have been announced, recognising and celebrating the top performing early childhood education and care (ECEC) services across the country.
Awards are given to the services with the highest KindiCare Rating Nationally, in recognition of the ‘hugely positive’ influence that high-quality services have on children, families and society as a whole.In 2024 two Queensland services - Goodstart Early Learning Red Hill and Winston Glades Early Education Centre & Preschool (pictured) are sharing the top honours, with a perfect rating of 10.0.
G8 Education owned Community Kids Pakenham won the inaugural KindiCare Families’ Choice Award. Winston Glades Early Education Centre & Preschool - Queensland
Winston Glades Early Education Centre & Preschool, operated by Queensland Childcare Services was both the Joint National Winner and Joint State Winner and has a KindiCare Rating of 10.0.
As well as having the highest possible KindiCare Rating the centre also holds an Excellent rating from ACECQA.
Nominated Supervisor Lisa Harris describes Winston Glades as “a place where everyone is connected, committed and valued” and believes that the centre’s great success comes from its investment in its people.
Queensland Childcare Services owners Lydia and Jack Amouzandeh, she continued, value the importance of ongoing learning and professional development, and they continually support the team to reach their highest potential, by encouraging participation in training and growth opportunities.
Within the service itself the Amouzandeh’s focus is on educator wellbeing, providing extras such as a massage chair and aromatherapy to support their team.
The service backs onto bushland, and when it came time to redesign the outdoor space, the educators consulted with children and families about what they wanted, collecting data about how children used the outdoor space and the time, as well as engaging training and advice from Wearthy founder Lukas Ritson.
“This happened before and after the playground build, and it really opened our mindset for further development in courageous play,” Ms Harris said.
“Along the way, we heard that the children wanted easy access to the Bush Kindy area outside the centre, so we could visit pretty much every day, and lots of climbing things in the outdoor play space, including a tree and monkey bars.”
The outdoor area also has a bush tucker garden and a little river that the children absolutely love.
For educational leader Wendy Van den Berg the revamped space “caters to all children’s needs, abilities and mindsets, whether it is engaging their curiosity, experimenting with cause and effect, or allowing them to explore their sense of thrill with risk-taking.”
This risk taking element is an important element of pedagogy and practice at the service, with tree climbing, carrying glassware and other elements used to reinforce that children are capable and confident learners.
“Rather than worrying that things will go wrong, our educators use language to create awareness and empower the children to problem-solve,” Ms Harris explained. “For instance, if they start climbing the tree and lose their confidence, we encourage them to think about their next step, and often, other children will help them out.”
“For us, it’s about letting the children take that risk so they can reach their fullest potential,” she continued, “and the message we share at the centre, and out in the sector, is that if you value the children and believe they are capable, then they can do it.”
Goodstart Early Learning Red Hill - Queensland
Goodstart Early Learning Red Hill was a Joint National Winner and Joint State Winner, also with a perfect 10.0 KindiCare Rating and an Excellent rating from ACECQA.
Renowned for its calm atmosphere, Goodstart Early Learning Red Hill, Assistant Director, Charmaine Greenwood explained, draws on a number of pedagogy styles, including Reggio Emilia, Montessori and contemporary theorists, with the ‘calm vibe’ linked to educator practice and the belief that the environment also serves as an educator of the children.
Instead of being rushed through drop-offs or hurried to achieve certain developmental goals, the children are given time to bond with their learning community and be acknowledged as capable learners.
“We actively collaborate with each other as a team to care for one another’s wellbeing and growth, and honour our role as educators and carers,” Ms Greenwood explained. “Being a Long Day Care service, we’re able to form strong connections and relationships with the children and their families; putting us in a place of deep trust and security by the time each child is in our Kindergarten room. This then provides us a significant amount of time to further develop the children’s resilience as they transition to school.”
Along the way, the team takes the time to reflect on their practices, partner with parents, and foster children’s social and emotional development, with an acknowledgement that children learn in different styles and at different paces.
“Lots of people advocate for school readiness or child readiness, (but) we reframe that to focus on the children’s wellbeing and emotional resilience,” Ms Greenwood said.
“We foster a mindset that challenges are a good thing, encourage them to learn to do things on their own, and give each child a strong foundation for school and life.”
Since receiving their Excellent rating from ACECQA, the team have set up a group where Excellent rated services from around Australia can share their experiences and expertise, and the team is also actively working on professionalising the sector.
“We see how we can support other centres to work towards a certain level of practice, which is really empowering for us and them. And instead of simply connecting, we collaborate with one another – sharing our experience and journey to professionalise the sector,” Ms Greenwood said.
The Sector extends congratulations to the National winners, and all others recognised in the Awards.
For a full list of 2024 Award winners please see here.
Don’t miss a thing
Related Articles
