BY BENJAMIN BALK, KINDICARE

SEPTEMBER 12, 2022 

Three early learning centres in the ACT have shared top honours in the 2022 KindiCare Excellence Awards, with Jenny Wren Early Learning by Busy Bees, Gungahlin Children’s Centre and Forrest Out of School Hours Care each scoring a rating of 9.5 to be Top of the Territory.

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.

Jenny Wren Early Learning by Busy Bees has been providing early education and care to youngsters in the ACT for more than 30 years and is now seeing a second generation attending - the offspring of alumni.

Assistant Manager and Education Lead Rebecca Greig says families value the familiarity and consistency that comes with a low turnover of staff. Around 60 per cent of educators have clocked up six or more years at the centre and some up to 20 years. She has been with Jenny Wren for 18 years since she joined as an 18-year-old.

“We have a core group of educators who have been with us for a long period of time,” said Rebecca. “We take a shared leadership approach understanding that success rests on working with the skill set of your team.”

That approach has allowed educators to pursue their personal strengths and passions, such as the preschool teacher who takes the lead in indigenous perspectives and the extremely creative educator who sets up environments across the service.

In a sector suffering a critical shortage of qualified educators, Mr Balk says the common thread amongst the top performing early learning centres was the ability to retain staff.

“Last week we have seen the Jobs Summit lay bare the shortcomings in the early learning sector but our KindiCare Excellence Awards have shown that quality is strongly aligned to valuing and recognising the professionalism and skills of staff,” said Mr Balk.

“There’s a message here for the sector – look after your educators and the education looks after itself, to the benefit of children and families.”

Children at Jenny Wren are immersed in a natural environment with tall gum trees and gardens surrounded by a reserve. The outdoor space is used as an educational tool to teach children about sustainability and set them on the path to reduce, reuse and recycle.

The garden, nourished by the compost and worm farm, produces fresh produce, and children collect eggs from the chickens, all of which are used for cooking meals throughout the day.

“What is amazing is that sustainability for this generation becomes a natural part of their being whereas for my generation we have to think very specifically about it,” said Rebecca.

Another standout feature of this year’s KindiCare Excellence Awards has been the strong showing of before and after school care services, a sector hit hard by the closure of schools during the pandemic.

P&C-operated Forrest OOSHC cares for around 150 children a day and operates a child-led play-based program in which children have a chance to manage and mitigate risk so they can explore their world safely.

Executive Director Ali Sewter said children were encouraged to climb trees and regularly participate in activities involving fire lighting.

“The brain architecture changes when children are given an opportunity to take risks,” said Ali. “Healthy risk-taking changes children’s neural pathways and causes divergent thinking. Kids like this can solve all the problems of the universe.

“Unadulterated play is at the heart of our play and work approach and this means educators facilitate play and know when to step in or step out.”

Children are also permitted a say in the operation of the centre with the Children’s Committee recently taking a stand for inclusivity and casting their vote in favour of hiring a staff member with cerebral palsy.

“The children led the process, did the research and spoke to the principal of the attached primary school, the committee and staff, to determine what changes would be necessary to employ this person,” said Ms Sewter.

Through joint decisions made by the interview panel, Forrest OOSHC has two employees with Down Syndrome, eight on the autism spectrum and one in a wheelchair.

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 Australian Capital Territory Winners and Finalists >>>