"Miss Cherie at Kindy"

Picture it. Normanton, December 2001...

(Sometimes I actually do feel as old as Sophia from The Golden Girls, but then I stretch and bend my legs around a bit and think young, stretchy, limber thoughts and suddenly I'm back in my twenties.) Sorry, I digress - I do that a lot. You'll come to find it endearing.

Anyway...

Twenty years ago I finished my university degree and headed home to Normanton for the Christmas break. Around about this time in December I ducked home from work at the family business (more on that later) to have a phone interview for a teaching job. It was in a town I'd never been to, and obviously I had never seen the Kindy, and I was very nervous. I'd never had a phone interview before, but it went well, because after I hung up I had a drink of water and was about to go back to work and the phone rang. It was the Committee calling back to offer me the job! A few weeks later my worldly goods and I arrived in Blackwater. That very day I met my new next-door neighbour who became one of my closest and dearest friends. Blackwater was good for me.

I was very lucky in the work colleague stakes too, because along with the Kindy I inherited Miss Liza. I couldn't have asked for a better work wife in those first few years while I was finding my feet in my career. About 3 weeks in we discovered that we share the same kind of warped sense of humour, and from that moment we both knew we had found our people.

I left our lovely Kindy on maternity leave, and lucked out again (three times) at the next Kindy I worked at. Those supportive relationships helped me to grow as an educator. It wasn't until eight years later that I went back to the Kindy setting.

For all of my son's primary school years I operated as a Family Day Care Educator from my home. My FDC closed almost exactly twelve months ago, and even though it was time, it was quite an emotional decision. I was incredibly blessed to get to know some truly beautiful families and spend time with their children. Including after school care kids there were 62 children through my door!

Last year I joined the staff at Emerald Community Kindergarten and moving into next year we are embarking on an extremely exciting new chapter of the Kindy. I'm so excited to get started! It's not just a brand new shiny building, it's a different and unique approach to learning.

From the beginning my early childhood philosophy stated that I believe that learning experiences need to be meaningful, realistic and relevant for children to truly engage in them. It wasn't until I had been teaching for a few years that I was able to reflect on what that actually looked like in my practice. What we're doing next year empowers children, builds their decision-making capacity, supports independent thought and reflection, fosters compassionate and respectful relationships, and above all, provides endless opportunities for deep engagement and rich learning across all of the learning and development areas. How is this different you ask? It's not really that different in many ways, but in the allocation of resources (including human resources) it is vastly different.

In our new building instead of having three separate classrooms set up almost exactly the same with learning materials stretched across three spaces in which children are assigned a learning space we will have studios, with all of the same kinds of resources located together in much larger spaces. One room will be where most of the creative arts and dramatic play happens (most, not all), the next will be the space for all of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) resources, and the third room will be the Rest and Relaxation Hub with amazing brand new sensory equipment, and quiet spaces for those times that children need to just chill for a bit. We get to keep our sensational outdoor space as it is too. For me, the absolute best part is that all of the children in the centre on any day can access any and all of those spaces, and we will have the space to explore ongoing projects that may take many days, without having to pack everything back up and start all over again the next day. I am so looking forward to many, many wonderful explorations across lots of different topics and interest areas.

So, what point is she trying to make I hear you ask. I admit that I've probably gone right around the horse paddock to make it. (Thanks Dad for that pearler of a saying. My Dad-isms creep in from time to time.) It's this...

I've been in the Early Childhood sector for a long time, and I've never been as excited by a new leg of that journey than I am right now. Part of what makes it so exciting is the team that I will be sharing it with. Humans are herd animals, and not designed to do anything alone. We each have different strengths, and together we can create amazing things. I'm probably the most introverted extrovert you'll ever meet, so I tend to have moments where I enjoy solitude, but in Early Childhood we need community at all levels. Past experiences with wonderfully supportive and enthusiastic educators set me up for operating as part of a team in this setting. Even as a Family Day Care Educator at home on my own I sought connection with other educators and mentors. Next year I will be fortunate enough to work directly day to day with a bigger team, navigating the changes as a whole service.

Okay, so that might have been another lap around the paddock. More succinctly, in Early Childhood people are good. Passionate people are even better. Our new journey into more developmentally appropriate practice lights me up and I'm so glad that I get to travel it with some really cool people.

We have had a couple of great orientation mornings this week with next year's children coming in with their parents to play and explore the space. We can't wait to get started for real.

I have to admit that I was a little shocked to realise that it's been 20 years since I graduated.The actual graduation ceremony was in the April the following year, and I was working, so I gave it a miss. I regret the lack of cap and gown photos. If I ever go back to Uni I will make sure I get a grad photo. Either that, or I could get a job at a school where the teachers wear their caps and gowns to Assembly… or Hogwarts. Might be quicker to do some fancy-dress shopping. I love a good costume opportunity - more on that later too.

It's been quite a party, ain't it?

Purple Fairy