BY BENJAMIN BALK, KINDICARE

SEPTEMBER 12, 2022 

An early learning centre investing heavily in the upskilling of its workforce has been named the National Regional Winner in this year’s KindiCare Excellence Awards.

Journey Early Learning Whittlesea scored 9.7, the highest KindiCare rating in regional Australia to take top honours, narrowly ahead of the NSW Regional Winner, Bumblebee Early Education Centre in Goonellabah, and the Queensland winner Lowood Early Education Centre and Preschool.

The KindiCare app and 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.

Centre Manager at Journey Early Learning Whittlesea, Sheri Barber, says she is in the enviable position of having more educators than she needs at the 70-place while many in the early education sector struggle to find staff.

“We are rolling out an upskilling program across the centre,” said Sheri. “We have two Cert III educators who have just taken on traineeships to do their Diploma, three educators studying for their Bachelor degree and we are training another three educators for educational leader roles.

“We took on three trainees in June who are totally new to early learning and just a few months in they are doing really well. They are surrounded by passionate and positive educators and it is a very uplifting environment. When you are new to a team you tend to inherit that positivity.”

 Sheri said they were taking care to introduce the new recruits slowly and to train them well. “We don’t include them in our ratios – they are there to learn and practice. We want them to get off on the right foot and to experience what an amazing sector we work in.”

Mr Balk said last week’s Jobs Summit had laid bare the shortcomings in the early learning sector, and the nationwide shortage of educators was being felt most keenly in regional Australia.

“The common thread amongst the top performing centres is that they take care of their workforce,” said Mr Balk. “It’s great to see that Journey Early Learning Whittlesea is taking a proactive approach to support their educators with clear pathways for career development.

“There are lessons here for the early education and care sector – look after your educators and education looks after itself.”

The workforce focus has translated into a highly motivated team of educators and a waitlist of families hoping to enrol their children.

Sheri says the centre offers an engaging program of activities, with plenty of outdoor space and a homely feel that both children and families love.

“Our focus is on giving families as much as we can while the children are in our care,” said Sheri. “We aim to give them as many experiences as possible with regular outings into the community, and visits to the library and local primary schools.

“The children especially like the bush kinder program where they can enjoy the natural environment and get their hands dirty.”

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 Website to see all the Regional Winners >>>