We had Serious Fun celebrating across Australia this week with more than 5,000 of our educators during Early Childhood Educators Day on Wednesday, 6th September 2023.
Planning commenced across our Affinity community weeks prior with the launch of new gifts and resources for our early childhood educators, including an Educator Reflection Diary, certificates of appreciation, and Affinity Affirmations – positive words of encouragement from our education team reflecting the work our people do.
Celebrations led by Centre Teams and our Affinity Area Managers around Australia included a seriously fun series of 'Morning Tea on AffiniTEA' events featuring educators' favourite treats, personalised gifts and plenty of messages of appreciation from families at each service.
Affinity Education Group CEO Tim Hickey released a special video for the day, congratulating and thanking each and every trainee and educator for their role. The video was followed by a personalised message from Dr Lesley Jones, Head of Education and Pedagogy, shared across every centre's Facebook page on the day.
Centre Facebook pages across our Milestones Early Learning, Aussie Kindies Early Learning, Papilio Early Learning and Kids Academy centres lit up with our teams and children having serious fun together to celebrate the big role they play in little lives.
"You are an amazing team! Thank you!" shared a parent in response to photos of the celebrations at Milestones Early Learning Ipswich.
In Western Australia, Affinity Area Managers Kelly Stephens and Kylie Grant took a road trip to visit their services across the day, sharing messages of appreciation.
"We visited every single centre to say Thank You and had some serious fun with them all," Kelly said.
Affinity Area Manager Holly Taylor set herself the same challenge – visiting every centre in her Area in one day with gifts and smiles.
"As someone who has progressed in my career with Affinity from an educator to an Area Manager, I wanted to make sure my team felt valued and appreciated," explained Holly.
About Early Childhood Educators Day
An initiative of the Australian Childcare Alliance, Early Childhood Educators' Day recognises and celebrates the work of Australia's educators in early learning services for their important role in supporting children's wellbeing, learning and development in the early years.
It's a chance to thank Australia's early childhood educators on a personal level by service operators, families and their children, as well as collectively at the state and national levels.
