2021 Private Education Awards

Page 12 www.lux-review.com LUX 2021 Private Education Awards May21657 Rainbow Station Early Education Centre Best Early Years Childcare & Education Centre - New South Wales Rainbow Station Early Education Centre is a childhood learning institution caring for children between 6 weeks and 6 years of age. Over its time in operation, it has made a name for itself with the empathic and sensitive nature of its work, each staff member making sure each child is listened to and catered to in order to ensure they have an educational and fun experience. First and foremost, this school acknowledges and respects the land of the Bundjalang people, promising to look after the plants, animals, and people who make it their home, and showing gratitude for how it fosters the growth and development of all life. Fundamentally, Rainbow Station Early Education Centre’s passion is in fostering this respect amongst the children it cares for. It believes that all children should be educated about the land that nourishes them, and deserve to know about the history, culture, and traditions of the Bundjalung county, cultivating an atmosphere of reverence and an attitude of treading lightly. As professionals, it puts the children at the forefront of its operation in all things – they are its top priority, and it knows that each child is unique and will benefit from different teaching styles and methods. Thus, it strives to ensure it has teachers and activities that can keep everyone in its care entertained, working with the children to get to know them in order to best support their development, preparing them for advancement into higher levels of schooling. Collaborating with aboriginal communities towards its goal of providing its children with native language education, Rainbow Station Early Education Centre is dedicated to fostering the continued support of native people in its region. It has cultivated a respectful, diligent, and outstanding learning environment that works with each individual child and their parents to provide the best early life learning, preparing the child to step into a bright future. This includes working with them on their kinaesthetic learning, intrapersonal connections, mathematical skills, linguistics, auditory and spatial reasoning, and encouraging them through subjects they find more difficult than others. Furthermore, it also believes healthy bodies make for healthy minds, hence its partnership with Much and Move Australia. This allows it to create healthy and nutritious meals that will encourage further growth, using Fundamental Movement skills to foster good physical development with both indoor and outdoor play. Additionally, it believes in the approach of a child-led program. Each child guides the direction of their growth, and it simply helps them find this direction and how best to safely develop their skills, allowing each pupil to find their unique voice and direction, whilst developing healthy relationships with their peers. It also wishes to promote healthy relationships between itself and children’s families, hoping to make every parent and child feel like a valued part of its community, consulting with them in order to best serve to their children. Moreover, it also engages in constant critical reflection, seeking to better and improve itself, standing out with its provision of occupational and speech therapy for those who need it. Rainbow Station Early Education Centre also works hard in its local community, serving hot meals to its local area and working with the local Aboriginal Education Consultive Group to continue to help its families during the pandemic, and providing its educators with training in the aboriginal language so that they might teach it to the children. This, fundamentally, has made Rainbow Station Early Education Centre a pillar of the community. Its morale and tenacity, as well as the dedication of its staff, keeps everyone motivated and inspired – and it pays its educators above reward rate, as well as free training days, lunches, and team building. 2021 has thusly been a huge year of service for this school, and after the tumult of 2020, it is happy to see its community begin to heal; and is honoured to be welcomed as a part of this healing process. Company: Rainbow Station Early Education Centre Contact: Liesl Pyke-Nott Website: rainbowstation.net.au