Top Centre in NSW
Congratulations to everyone at Belrose Community & Children’s Centre for winning a 2024 KindiCare Excellence Award!
BY HEJIRA CONVERY, KINDICARE
Belrose Community & Children's Centre is our State Winner in New South Wales, with an Outstanding KindiCare Rating of 9.9, and this service has also won two consecutive Excellent ratings from the Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority.
These top honours say everything about the calibre of this Sydney service, and Belrose’s great success comes down to its quality educators and the community connections they foster every single day.
Rochelle Clancy, Manager of Northern Beaches Council Early Learning Centres says, “The educators at Belrose take great care in understanding the community of people who attend the service, and are very dedicated to ensuring the early learning programs cater to their needs and wants.”
This dedication is instantly apparent in the way the educators interact with the children, and their Meeting of the Minds initiative is a great example of this.
Rochelle explains that, “Meeting of the Minds is a committee meeting for our preschoolers, which sees the children coming together with our Educational Leader, Katie Dresner, to talk about what’s happening at the service, what’s happening in the community, and what they feel we should be involved in.”
Instead of being a token initiative, Meeting of the Minds gives the children a strong voice at the centre, and a real influence in the wider community.
For instance, the preschool children’s interest in Smiles2U has led to Belrose putting together care packages for people in local hospitals; and Rochelle explains that, “The children will make special gifts and keepsakes to help raise the spirits of the kids, parents and carers who are going through tough times.”
The Meeting of the Minds children have also lent their expertise to a swing study, and Rochelle says, “This involved the children giving us feedback on the all-ability swings at our local park.
“We borrowed a few different types of all-ability swings and had a swing set in our preschool. The children then discussed the different swings at the Meeting of the Minds, before deciding on which swing they thought would be best used as an all-ability swing.
“We then fundraised to purchase this swing type for two local parks and for own centre.”
Community mindedness is also nurtured in the younger children at Belrose.
The educators build emotional intelligence across all ages with the help of their gender-neutral Kimochi ‘feelings’ program, careful use of language, and community partnerships.
Belrose supports several hospitals via Smiles2U, and they have created meaningful connections with emergency services, sustainability projects and Indigenous communities as well.
Last year, Belrose’s educators and children also partnered with a local recycling and waste facility, Kimbriki, to create a community herb garden, which a neighbour kindly waters.
And, of course, there’s always a great focus on Belrose’s families.
The educators have open conversations with parents and caregivers to ensure their needs, hopes and wishes are met, and families are actively encouraged to attend – and suggest - service events.
Belrose has a yearly calendar pinned up where all families will see it, and the team invites everyone to add events that are important to them.
This calendar has been really successful in engaging families, and Rochelle says, “Our parents and caregivers come along to lots of different service events, and when we got our second Excellent rating, many families took time off work to come in and celebrate with us.”
Belrose’s 2024 KindiCare Excellence Award will now give everyone even more reason to applaud this amazing service, and here at KindiCare, we congratulate Belrose’s educators for creating such a heartfelt and high-quality service.
There’s no doubt that Belrose is brimming with community spirit, and the service is thoughtfully shaped to support its children and families in the best ways possible, which is so wonderful to see.
Learn more about Belrose Community & Children's Centre
All photos © Karen Watson, Northern Beaches Council
Information correct as at 1 July 2024