BY HEJIRA CONVERY, KINDICARE

NOVEMBER 28, 2023 

The 2023 KindiCare Excellence Awards were announced in a NewsCorp exclusive on 22 October, and since then, we’ve seen a lot of excited early learning services celebrating their Outstanding or Excellent KindiCare Ratings. 

And rightly so!  

Australia’s top performing services deserve every chance to give themselves a pat on the back, and the whole reason we created the KindiCare Excellence Awards was to recognise and celebrate the high-quality services that do so much to support our children in their formative years.  

A huge congratulations goes to our National, State, Territory and Regional Winners, who’ve come out on top in their location, thanks to their high KindiCare Rating. 

Guardian Childcare & Education Blackburn West is our National Winner for 2023, with a KindiCare Rating of 9.9, and amongst the State and Territory Winners, we’ve seen a great mix of not-for-profit and for-profit services operated by both smaller independent providers, like Pachamama and Dripstone Children’s Centre, and larger early learning groups, including Goodstart Early Learning and Green Leaves Early Learning.  

It’s been a real pleasure to send out sparkly trophies to each of the KindiCare Excellence Award Winners, and when you read their stories, you’ll get a sense of the incredible work they do and positive influence they have on everyone in their childcare communities.  

We also give a big round of applause to the Top 10 Finalists in each State and Territory. 

Every one of these early learning services offers something really special, and they lead a large group of services that have been commended for their high KindiCare Rating.  

We’ve sent congratulatory certificates and stick-on badges to just over 2,500 services rated Outstanding or Excellent in this year’s KindiCare Excellence Awards. 

In number terms, this means approximately 12% of Australia’s 17,300+ early learning services have been rated Excellent, with a KindiCare Rating of 9.0 or above, with 3% of services being labelled Outstanding, due to their KindiCare Rating of 9.5 or above.   

Since the results were announced and packages delivered, we’ve seen some great celebrations around the nation! 

For instance, O’Shannessy Early Learning Centre has invested in a nice frame for its KindiCare Excellence Award certificate, Goodstart Early Learning North Lakes – Winn Street was quick to stick its 2022 and 2023 Outstanding badges side-by-side, Springwood Early Education Centre and Preschool did a happy dance, and Little Kingdom Education rolled out loads of delicious donuts for a KindiCare Excellence Awards party!  

All of this has been so great to see, and if you’re looking for an early learning service, it definitely helps to keep an eye out for those badges, certificates and trophies. 

An Excellent or Outstanding KindiCare Rating tells you a lot about the quality of education and care being offered, and the KindiCare app and website makes it super easy to compare different services and find a winning match for your family.  

Here’s to a successful childcare search, and a huge congratulations to all the services honoured in this year’s KindiCare Excellence Awards!