Gowrie Victoria Broadmeadows Valley has been awarded an Excellent Rating

Date awarded: 24 July 2019

Valid until: 23 July 2022

Gowrie Victoria Broadmeadows Valley has been awarded the Excellent rating by the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA), the highest rating a service can achieve under the National Quality Framework.

The Melbourne based service was recognised for its collaborative partnerships with professional, community or research organisations, practice and environments that enhance children’s learning and growth; and positive workplace culture and organisational values, sustained commitment to professional development and support of educators.

Examples of exceptional practice at the service include:

• The service supports local community initiatives and contributes to community plans and goals through its partnership with Hume City Council. This includes advising community playgroups, supporting the Maternal and Child Health team by hosting its breastfeeding clinic , attending local Hume events such as ‘Welcome baby to Country’ and bi-weekly participation in the Hume Global Learning Centre Library rhyme time and bilingual story time programs.
• The service works with child protection agencies, caseworkers and other services, including the local primary school, to support children and their siblings who are in the child protection system. This includes adapting care arrangements for children to remain at the service when placed in out of home care. The service holds sibling catch-up sessions and onsite child protection meetings as well as advocating for travel arrangements for children moving into out of home care to ensure some continuity and stability.
• In May 2019, a team member accompanied early childhood consultant Anne Stonehouse (OAM) to Christchurch, New Zealand to provide support to the early years, primary and secondary school sectors following the March 2019 Christchurch massacre. Five services were visited to discuss lockdown procedures with educators and share strategies to support community members through traumatic events.
• The service supports the health and wellbeing of its staff through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and LifeWorks counselling. This includes monthly visits to the service by a psychologist to support educators to reflect on leadership styles, team growth and the development of self-care strategies.

The service completed an education program documentation project to challenge its educators to reflect on the documentation content generated and to discuss why they identified this content as important. For five weeks, all cameras and iPads were removed from rooms and educators could only document if a child asked them to. During and after the project, educators reported having increased connections, availability and responsiveness to children which supported more explicit intentional teaching and learning. Changes were made to summative assessments to support relationship building and the capture of more detailed learning.

As a leader in the sector, Gowrie Victoria Broadmeadows Valley has contributed to resource development including eLearning webinars, a digital technologies statement, and the Early ABLES tool. They have also participated in local, community and global presentations to the education and care, primary and secondary school sectors, ensuring their positive impact reaches beyond the children and families who access their service.

About the Excellent rating

Services that receive ‘Exceeding National Quality Standard’ in all seven quality areas can apply for the Excellent rating. The Excellent rating is awarded for three years. After this time services have the option to re-apply.

More information is available on the ACECQA website.