Excellent Rating Notification for Pelican Waters – Golden Beach Preschool Kindergarten and Child Care

Date first awarded: 21 October 2015
Date re-awarded for the second time: 6 December 2018
Date Excellent Rating Awarded: 24 October 2024 
Date Excellent Rating Valid until:  23 October 2029

Pelican Waters – Golden Beach Preschool Kindergarten and Child Care 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. This is the third time Pelican Waters – Golden Beach Preschool Kindergarten and Childcare has been awarded the Excellent rating.  

The Queensland based service was recognised for its:

• collaborative partnerships with professional, community or research organisations
• inclusive partnerships with children and families  
• positive workplace culture and organisational values, sustained commitment to professional development and support of educators
• practice and environments that enhance children’s learning and growth.

Examples of exceptional practice at the service include:

• Developing a strong partnership with a community and Council to facilitate the donation of toys and gifts for Christmas celebrations. The Council area is a predominately Aboriginal community and is one of the most disadvantaged communities in Australia (SEIFA ranking 1). Ongoing since 2019, this practice was initiated by an educator and parent who lost their young child to a serious illness and in response decided to donate their toys to an education and care service within the community. The service worked closely with Council and community members, including educators from the education and care service to support ongoing yearly donations. The partnership was further extended by the service closely collaborating with this education and care service to develop a joint Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), acting as a platform for powerful cultural learning to occur across both service contexts. This practice has influenced and enhanced the service’s reconciliation journey including their culturally responsive practices with children and families.  
• Supporting multiple platforms for past and present children and families of the service to connect within the community. This was demonstrated by the service developing 3 initiatives:  
  • The Fatherhood Group, a space for fathers to connect and bond with their children and other fathers;  
  • The Long Lunch, a regular event organised for mothers and other female community representatives to share a meal and support each other in their parenting role, and;  
  • The Village Dinner; a community dinner event where children, families and extended families meet along the beach and share a picnic or dinner together.
• Through these platforms the service has highlighted increased community connection and positive relationships between children, families and educators, resulting in significant improved outcomes.  
• Engaging educators in a research project on deeply listening to children. Facilitated by a PhD candidate that was intentionally selected due to the alignment with the service’s pedagogical approaches, the service spent 8 months reflecting on and observing their own practice in listening and responding to children’s right to participate. As a result of the research, the service experienced a significant shift and change to practice, highlighting a service culture of deeply listening and collaborating with children to make decisions that affect them.
• Continuing their bush and beach kindy program, the service has extended this to include "Nature Camp" which is a targeted nature-focused program for children. Nature Camp differs from their pre-established bush and beach kindy program as it's foundation lays in the principles of Reggio Emilia and is informed by learnings from Forest School Training and their research project in deep listening.  
• As a leader in the sector, Pelican Waters – Golden Beach Preschool Kindergarten and Child Care worked within their service to develop the "Soul Teaching Conference". The conference was attended by 80 educators, families and service leaders within their community. The conference was fully funded and organised by the service and focussed on key speakers that spoke to the critical role of early childhood professionals how they can nurture and support the neural and soulful development of children.