BY BENJAMIN BALK, KINDICARE

SEPTEMBER 12, 2022 

An independent early childhood education and care centre that puts priority on the wellbeing of its workforce has been named the national and Victorian state winner in this year’s KindiCare Excellence Awards.

Essex Heights Juniors in the outer Melbourne suburb of Mount Waverley scored 10.0, the highest KindiCare rating in the nation, to take top honours.

The regional winner, a category introduced for the first time this year, was also from Victoria with Journey Early Learning Centre in Whittlesea scoring 9.7.

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.

In a sector suffering a critical shortage of qualified educators, Essex Heights Juniors boasts 11 Bachelor or Masters qualified teachers and is regularly cited by Education authorities as a model early learning centre.

Centre owner and director for 25 years, Paula Papanicolaou, attributes her success to looking after her staff.

“We have two wellbeing officers,” said Paula. “One is responsible for the wellbeing of staff and the other for the children.

“Our educational leader is full time off the floor, providing support to staff in all rooms and having private one-to-one sessions to explore their learning goals.”

Mr Balk says Essex Heights Juniors’ approach provides a shining example of how to overcome workforce issues as shortcomings in the early learning sector were laid bare at this week’s Jobs Summit.

“Look after your educators and education looks after itself,” said Mr Balk. “Essex Heights Juniors offers an incredible program of education and play and a working environment where educators are valued. That translates to staff being able to deliver the curriculum and care that they know will lead to happy children – and happy parents.”

Ms Papanicol says the centre has played a leading role in raising the benchmark for excellence in early learning and is visited by other services seeking inspiration and ideas.

“We have been approached by other services and the Department of Education to share our expertise,” said Ms Papanicolaou. “We are also responsible for setting up the Monash Directors Network Group which we facilitate as a support service for local child care centres.”

Community connection also plays a big part in Essex Heights’ early learning programs.

“We connect with primary schools to support our transition to school programs and also have weekly visits from students from Ashwood Special Developmental School to create an inclusive environment fostering acceptance,” said Ms Papanicolaou.

“We have linked with aged care facilities where residents have helped us out by repairing books and mending our cooking aprons, which helps them feel valued within their community.”

Sustainable living is reinforced with a plot at the local community garden where children plant and harvest vegetables which are then used in meals at the centre. A number of special community events are held to bring families together as well as a monthly Grandparents’ Club.

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 Victorian Winners and Finalists >>>