|
|
| Child care person in the spotlight
|
|
|
|
What is your full name?
My name is Kathryn Mahoney and I work at Windsor School Age Care Centre in Windsor (Qld), a non-profit, community based outside school hours care service.
How many staff and children are in the centre?
Windsor School Age Care Centre currently engages 22 educators and several ancillary staff. We are licensed for 170 children per session. Currently we average 125 children per afternoon, 70 children per morning and 75 children per vacation care day. We now offer our services seven days per week, opening at 6am until school starts and after school care sessions run until 10pm. Weekend care operates from 6am -10pm.
What is your professional background and career experience?
I have a Bachelor of Social Science - Community Services and early in my career I had a focus in corrective services. Having worked in school age care while studying I returned to the industry in 1993 and have worked for Windsor School Age Care Centre as service coordinator ever since.
What is your professional background and career experience?
I have a Bachelor of Social Science – Community Services and early in my career I had a focus in corrective services. Having worked in school age care while studying I returned to the industry in 1993 and have worked for Windsor School Age Care Centre as service coordinator ever since.
What attracted you to a career in child care?
I worked as a child care assistant at a program in West End to support my university studies.
An opportunity to work in the community services sector with children provides me with a great deal of satisfaction. I value the ability to develop long term relationships with children and their parents, to see them grow and blossom into young independent people and to be a role model for their social development.
Whilst somewhat more challenging I also enjoy the community focus of our service. To form and evolve a culture that is respectful, inclusive and progressive and to lead a team of educators capable of supporting that culture provides an ongoing challenge.
What does a 'normal' day look like for you?
A 6am start with administrative duties throughout the before school session, as well as time spent visiting program spaces to engage with educators, children and families. I have the great privilege of doing the fun stuff at this time of day! I then join the team to walk 70 children to school and head back to the office for administrative and educator communication time.
Our afternoon sessions are more intense. I chair the team meeting where 'housekeeping' conversations, professional development and planning are the focus.
We then all undertake the afternoon school collection routine. We have a small number of children from our host school, St Mary of the Cross who arrive to start afternoon tea while most educators walk to meet and escort about 120 children from Windsor State School back to the service.
What makes your centre unique?
Windsor School Age Care Centre is best identified by its culture. A place of belonging, where each child can participate in a social and engaging community that is about them, their friends, their interests and pursuits. We intentionally operate with as little structure as is necessary, acknowledging that school age children can be competent decision makers, who if given sufficient positive opportunities will flourish and grow in independence and confidence. We operate with a high level of respect for each other and our community.
Windsor School Age Care Centre has interpreted the National Quality Standards that relate to educative practice providing creative and meaningful opportunities for each child to have unique learning experiences in our play-based program. Each child has the opportunity to set their own agenda, goals and pace within the program. Our program therefore is largely driven by the ideas of children and actioned by our 'case educators' whose role it is to create agency for all children. Educators are then tasked to implement each child's agenda into the relevant program areas.
Educators are able to document progress for each child against the outcomes of the My Time Our Place framework on our online documentation portal. Parents are then alerted via email when a relevant piece of documentation has been written or recorded. Children can also contribute to their documentation in a blog style entry.
All of this happens within a fantastic and creative environment housing art/craft, home corner, construction, active play, sustainability/gardening, homework and reading buddy and active play programs. Additionally children can participate in Keyboard, Guitar, French, Spanish, Tutoring and Tennis lessons taught by our in-house specialist Educators.
What are some of the advantages of working in the child care sector?
For me, it's about the job satisfaction in operating a community service that has a positive culture and continues to meet the organisation's Values Goals and Beliefs held within its Philosophy Statement.
What are some of the biggest challenges facing the child care sector?
Providing a quality service at an affordable price for families. Attracting quality educators to the school age care sector, given the limited hours available when full time hours are available in the 0-5 sector. Meeting the diverse needs of the community with regard to shift workers and 7 day trading.
How has your centre changed to deal with these challenges?
Windsor School Age Care Centre has undergone great change in the last 18 months including relocating a 170 place service and undertaking a trial project offering our after school services until 10pm and from 6am until 10pm Saturday and Sundays.
The relocation has provided an opportunity to expand our service and improve educative outcomes as well as better meet community needs.
By undertaking this trial project we aim to offset fixed costs against a greater client base over more hours of care. This capacity building venture will also create full time work for more of our educators and improve our ability to attract high quality educators.
How does the industry need to change to adapt to these challenges?
I believe the National Quality Framework provides an adequate context in which a service can provide a quality child care experience. Implementing quality is expensive and will continue to be unattainable within our current child care funding constraints.
What advice would you offer someone thinking about a career or looking for a promotion in child care?
Choose an employer who values good educative practice and has a positive workplace culture. Be sure to prioritise quality relationships with children and persist with the attainment of the highest qualifications available.
|
|
|
|
|
