BY BENJAMIN BALK, KINDICARE

SEPTEMBER 12, 2022 

Two Goodstart Early Learning Centres have taken top honours in the 2022 KindiCare Excellence Awards, tying for first place in NSW. Goodstart Early Learning Port Macquarie and Goodstart Early Learning Tuggerah, last year’s National winner, both scored a KindiCare rating of 9.9.

The 2022 national winner was Essex Heights Juniors in the outer Melbourne suburb of Mount Waverley which scored 10.0 to take top honours.

The KindiCare app and KindiCare Childcare Comparison website, developed by founder and CEO Benjamin Balk to make the process of selecting a quality early learning centre more transparent for parents, has revolutionised the early learning search journey for Australian families.

The KindiCare Excellence Awards recognise the top performing early learning services across the nation based on their Kindicare Rating. The KindiCare Rating provides a unique score for every early learning service that is based on their current and historical assessment and ratings under the National Quality Framework from ACECQA, parent and community feedback and reviews, the stability and length of operation of the service as well as other characteristics known about a service – providing a comprehensive real time picture of quality and value for money that’s easy for parents to understand.

Goodstart Port Macquarie has adopted inclusion as a priority with many educators bilingual and a commitment to ensuring children are seen and heard.

“Our children are part of our centre’s Children’s Committee, where they spend time discussing important events, making centre decisions and drink fruity ‘tea’ from fine china teacups,” said Centre Director Rebecca Webb.

“We also have safety champions where our children assist educators to do safety checks of our outdoor environments. This practice encourages children to identify and manage risks and to become safety advocates for themselves and their peers.”

Mr Balk said giving children a voice and embracing risk in early learning settings had emerged as a strong theme amongst this year’s winners.

“There’s a real move away from molly coddling children and instead teaching them how to make safe choices,” said Mr Balk. “At the same time top performing centres are letting children have a say in how centres are run and giving them a chance to take responsibility for their decisions.

“These are important life lessons woven into play and early education that help children gain confidence and be ready for the transition to school and life’s future challenges.”

Parent feedback on the KindiCare website shows there is nothing to separate the two centres, both winning five star endorsement and unqualified praise from parents.

Ms Webb attributes the positive reviews to recognising families as the primary partners in their child’s early learning journey.

“We seek out their input and engagement every step of the way,” said Ms Webb. “Our families know we are here to support them in ways that are meaningful, such as linking community support services, where needed, such as speech and occupational therapy.”

Bumblebee Early Learning Centre in Goonellabah in the eastern suburbs of Lismore was the NSW Regional winner.

Mr Balk said that the 2022 KindiCare Awards this year recognised just over 2,000 early learning services nationally who achieved a KindiCare Rating of 9.0 or above. About 10% of services nationally were recognised with an Excellent Award with the top 2% of the nation’s best performing early learning services receiving the newly introduced Outstanding Award for achieving a KindiCare Rating of 9.5 or above.

“It is fantastic to be able to recognise the hard work and dedication of the childcare providers, educators and staff at these top performing centres nationally who strive every day to give the best possible start to learning for children across Australia,” said Mr Balk.

View the 2022 KindICare Excellence Awards News South Wales Winners and Finalists >>>