MEDIA RELEASE - Council Early Education Centre and Educator named the state’s best!
Sutherland Shire Council’s Children’s Services has taken out top honours in two categories at the 2024 NSW Excellence in Early Childhood Education industry awards over the weekend.
Council’s Fauna Place Early Education Centre in Kirrawee won the Excellence in Australian History and Culture category for the Centre’s holistic approach to embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture in the children’s educational program.
Additionally, Council’s Children’s Services Inclusion Project Officer, Clare Smith, won the Excellence in Inclusivity Practices category for her extensive work across all 11 of Council’s centres supporting inclusive practices.
Sutherland Shire Mayor, Councillor Jack Boyd, said the Children’s Services team are extremely deserving of recognition at this level.
“I am incredibly proud, but not surprised, that Fauna Place Early Education Centre, its wonderful educators and staff, and Council’s Inclusion Project Officer, Clare Smith, have been deemed NSW’s best in their categories,” he said.
“These honours are testament to the outstanding array of programs and staff initiatives that have been introduced to provide children with the most well-rounded start to their educational development at our services across Sutherland Shire.
“I’d also like to congratulate our other centres and staff who were selected as finalists in this year’s industry awards. As someone who attended a Council centre myself, I am proud both as Mayor and an alumnus to see Council's track record of excellence recognised."
“Our Council centres and educators are held in high esteem by local families and have nurtured generations of Sutherland Shire youngsters, so I’d like to congratulate them on this occasion but also thank them for all the work they do in shaping the future of our community.”
Fauna Place Early Education Centre Director, Kristin Kirkman, said she was thrilled the centre was recognised for its unique program drawing on the expertise of Aboriginal consultants in speciality areas across art, storytelling, music and Dharawal language.
“Our program is inclusion in action. What we observe every day is children who understand the importance of connection to land, who embrace cultural inclusion and who are curious to learn more about our nation’s First People,” Kirkman added.
Inclusion Project Officer, Clare Smith said Council’s services were highly regarded for their unwavering commitment to inclusion.
“It's at the heart of everything we do and it's evident in the genuinely warm relationships between educators, children and families and in our strategies to ensure everyone belongs," Smith said.
For more information on the educational opportunities provided at Sutherland Shire Council’s 11 Early Education Centres, parents are encouraged to book a tour by contacting staff within the Children’s Services team by phoning (02) 9710 0466.