Early childhood educator named best

AN Eaglehawk childcare worker has been named as the Family Day Care Regional Educator of the Year for the Bendigo, Goldfields and Macedon Ranges region. 

The Family Day Care Australia Excellence in Family Day Care Awards seek to acknowledge those who have provided top quality childcare throughout the nation. 

Casey Seidel has been an early childhood educator for the past 20 years, and last year started her own business from home. 

“It’s absolutely the best thing I have ever done within my career, which spans many different roles within the sector,” said Ms Seidel. 

“I feel so fulfilled now and I just couldn’t ever imagine doing anything else. It has 100 per cent given me back my passion for early childhood education. 

“I felt extremely honoured and excited to have been nominated in the first place and I was absolutely blown away when I received the email to say I had won.”  

Ms Seidel said she finds fulfillment through the smaller care environment of family daycare which allows her to get to know the children better and was honoured to have been recognised with the award. 

“It was then I realised that this is a much bigger deal than I first thought,” she said. 

“I find the love, respect, connection, and acknowledgement from both the children and their families so rewarding. 

“The learning and progression of learning of all the children is so fulfilling to see and I feel so honoured to be able to experience this with the children and families that attend my service.”  

Bendigo Family Day Care coordinator Tamarra Tie said several of people in the district were put up for awards, as was the service itself. 

“To simply be nominated is an amazing effort, with dedicated families providing detailed information anonymously through an online submission, and with over 10,000 educators nationally and nearly 500 services, all nominations are awesome,” she said. 

“We would like to congratulate our educator Casey, for her outstanding achievement in winning the award.”