Alex and Sophie are in conversation with Nicole Lees. Nicole  is a consultant for Be You with Early Childhood Australia. Nicole’s background includes educator and leadership roles, consultancy and research. She spent several years working in the education sector in Japan and South Korea. Nicole’s experience in early childhood education across three different countries highlighted the significance of a sense of wellbeing. To follow this interest, Nicole undertook a Master of Childhood and Youth Studies, focusing on early childhood wellbeing and spirituality. 

This conversation includes educator wellbeing, child wellbeing, experience of teaching internationally, Be You resources and studies and multiple practical strategies to promote mental health and wellbeing in early childhood settings. 

Kathryn Foley is kindergarten teacher at Nyah West Kindergarten, where she has taught for 35 years. In this episode, Alex and Sophie speak with Kathryn about making every moment matter in early childhood, being brave in trying new things, what it means to be 'school ready', inquiry based projects, coaching in early childhood spaces and so much more! 

In this episode Crystal and Alex speak to Shine Bright Maiden Gully Early Years Hub manager Belinda Quinn. This conversation covers Belinda's career journey, balancing the demands of leadership, the experience of establishing a brand new early learning centre and all she has learnt along the way. 

Belinda shares with us the details of an exciting research project she is currently undertaking with La Trobe University, around theory of practice architectures and influences that affect, create and contain everything we do in early childhood education and in leadership. 

In this episode, Crystal and Sophie are in conversation with Amelia Johnson. 

Amelia Johnson is a social worker, art therapist and PhD student. She is also a proud mother of 3 adult children, a daughter, sister, niece, aunty, friend and lover of making, creating and enjoying the simple things. She began her career in family support and co-ordinating mentor programs. While her family was young, she focussed on managing family businesses. She has worked in the education sector for 15 years, joining the early years in 2021. Her current PhD topic is exploring how arts-based practices enhance Reflective Practice in the early years. 

Amelia works for Shine Bright as a social worker/art therapist delivering reflective practice, proactive wellbeing support, trauma informed practice and many other programs to our services across regions. 

Have you ever thought about establishing a bush kinder program? In this episode, Alex and Sophie are in conversation with Nicole Howie. We explore what bush kinder looks like at Shine Bright Huntly Kindergarten, the incredible benefits and learning outcomes for children,  and the challenges that arise from time to time. With some beautiful anecdotes along the way, this episode will make you want to drop everything and go to breathe in that fresh bush air. 

Nicole Howie is an educator who has been working in early childhood for 9 years and been involved in bush kinder programs at two centres.  Her background is in primary teaching and she has always had a passion for the environment.  She finds joy in connecting children to nature in her work and personal life.

He is the author of multiple books about raising children and is a trusted voice in the wellbeing and relationships space. So much of the work Justin does with families and children is applicable to early childhood education, you'll need a pen and paper for this one - so many strategies to take away!

This episode was informed by the following sources:

• Australian Early Development Census 2024 findings: https://www.aedc.gov.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/aedc_national-report-2024_da7-409a37b9d-95ce-43e7-af00-51aa604cf0b3.pdf?sfvrsn=b56015ba_1 
• Australian Early Development Census Data Story: How has the COVID19 pandemic affected children? https://www.aedc.gov.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/aedc-data-story_issue-3_covid_da6.pdf?sfvrsn=3dec201c_1 
• COVID Kids ABC Radio National Life Matters podcast (2023) https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/lifematters/talkback-covid-kids-pandemic-impacts/102439774  
• More than isolated: The experience of children and young people with disability and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic Report on CYDA’s 2020 COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and children and young people with disability survey by Professor Helen Dickinson and Dr Sophie Yates Public Service Research Group, School of Business, UNSW Canberra For Children and Young People with Disability Australia May 2020 https://cyda.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/covid_report_compressed_1.pdf 
• The Post-Pandemic Child by Professor Kim Cornish AM https://publishing.monash.edu/product/the-post-pandemic-child/  
• Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Children in Australian Early Childhood Education and Care from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute https://www.rch.org.au/uploadedFiles/Main/Content/ccchdev/Impact%20of%20COVID-19%20pandemic%20on%20children%20in%20Australian%20ECEC%20(1).pdf 
• National trends in child development AEDC (ECA conference presentation 2025) 
• ‘Are the kids alright? Raising the post-pandemic child’ panel discussion through Victoria University 2025 
• Full Stop Australia COVID19 response inquiry https://fullstop.org.au/uploads/main/Submissions-Reports/2024/Full-Stop-Australia-Submission-COVID-19-Response-Inquiry.pdf  
• SNAICC position on COVID19 https://www.snaicc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/SNAICC-position-on-COVID-19_ECEC_recovery.pdf
• Parenting During COVID‐19: A Study of Parents' Experiences Across Gender and Income Levels 

Full list here: Sources.pdf

With over 15-years of experience, Adrian is a well-respected professional consultant and educator with a Master of Education (Ed. Psychology) and a Bachelor of Education (Human Resources).

Adrian has held various senior management roles in the Early Childhood Education sector including Group General Manager and Education Director. He believes that developing and supporting high quality, passionate Educators is the key to quality outcomes for children.

Adrian is committed to supporting the development of high-quality early learning services and his service to the community has been recognized with an Order of Australia Commendation. He is the Educational Director of Farran Street Education and together with his family Adrian owns and operates a long day care centre in Sydney’s lower north shore.

Adrian facilitates learning focused on Leadership, Management and HR within the Early Education and Care sector. Currently Adrian is in partnership with Go1 to provide leadership and management content for their online learning platform.

https://farranstreeteducation.com.au/

🎧 Tune in for a warm and vulnerable conversation about growth, perseverance, and the power of lifelong learning in early childhood education.

Books discussed:

The Magic Is In You by Brooke Vitale and Colin Hosten, illustrated by Grace Lee

Bidhi Galing by Anita Heiss, illustrated by Samantha Campbell

Be You by Peter H. Reynolds

Australia: Country of Colour by Jess Racklyeft

Just The Way You Are by Lake Press

Never, Not Ever! By Beatrice Alemanga

With thanks to Affirm Press and Simon and Schuster for review copies of Australia: Country of Colour and Bidhi Galing)

Thank you to Jas, Belinda, Katie and Shez for sharing their practice with us! Do you have a part of your practice you'd like to share with our Shine On listeners, or an educator who you think would be great to hear from? Let us know over on our socials or by emailing us shineonpodcast@shinebright.org.au

Wendy Irving and Mim Brown join us in this episode to discuss the benefits of the Shine Bright Supported Playgroup model and other family-centered projects run by Communities For Children Bendigo. 

Throughout the conversation we’ll explore Wendy and Mim’s important roles within the community, what their projects look like day-to-day, how they support children, families and community, and how they work through the challenges they face.  

To find out more about their important work and other projects discussed in this episode, check out these websites below:

https://www.c4cbendigo.com.au/

https://www.shinebright.org.au/c4c/

https://www.c4cbendigo.com.au/for-professionals/projects/

We know that child’s voice is crucial to high quality early childhood education, so in this episode, we took some questions from educators and children, and asked our little experts for their input. You’ll hear a busy classroom in the background, children at work, and the beautiful chaos of learning with children.

The questions our little experts pondered are:

• how do you show you're being a friend to someone?
• what is something you would LOVE to do every day?
• if two children wanted to play with the same toy, what should your educator do?
• what do you need your eductaors to do to help you when you might be having a bit of trouble saying goodbye to your parent or grown up in the morning?

Have a question you'd like us to put to our little experts? Send us an email on shineonpodcast@shinebright.org.au or reach out to us via our social media!

Head over to our social media @shineon_podcast to tell us the early childhood resources you can’t get enough of!

Resources discussed:

The Spoke – ECA blog 

Play School Show Time 

@thedailyeducator Instagram page 

ABC Kids Listen App  

Rachel is an experienced early years educator with a passion for integrating technology in purposeful, age-appropriate, and creative ways. As an Apple Professional Learning Specialist, she empowers educators to amplify children’s voices and agency through digital tools, sparking curiosity, wonder, and joyful learning experiences for young children.

You can find examples of the wonderful strategies Rachel has shared here: http://bit.ly/4eHhV9T 

Listen in to see why we love Come Over to My House by Sally Rippin and Eliza Hull, Owl Babies by Martin Waddell and Patrick Benson, Finding Our Heart by Thomas Mayor and Blak Douglas, The Book With No Pictures by BJ Novak, and The Five Rules of Friendship with Jess Sanders (with thanks to Affirm Press for sending this review copy to Sophie!) 

Over the last four years, Vicki and her team have been implementing an intentional gender justice curriculum at their kindergarten. This involves raising awareness of and dismantling the pervasive gender stereotypes we see at kindergarten and engaging in myriad ways with the children and families to achieve this goal.

Vicki is currently Co-Director and Teacher in Unit 1A at C&K Paddington Community Kindergarten in Queensland. Vicki has been an early childhood teacher for many years, and loves the challenges and joy in teaching and learning every day. Vicki has worked in @cank.au affiliated kindergartens, Queensland State preschools, Early Education and care in Sydney and Branch C&K Kindergartens.

Vicki was a tutor in early childhood education at QUT whilst completing her Master of Education. Her master’s thesis investigated young children’s reflection and metacognition, and she is a strong advocate of reflection as a way of knowing and learning for young children.

 Suggested resources:

‘Supporting gender diversity in early childhood classrooms - practical guide by Encian Pastel et al

‘Raising them’ by Kyl Myers

‘Gender in Early Childhood Education - Implementing a Gender flexible Pedagogy’ by Jo Warin

‘Gender Expansion in Early Childhood Education – building and supporting pro-diversity spaces’ by Rachel Chapman

‘Parenting beyond pink and blue – How to Raise your kids free of gender stereotypes’   Christia Spears Brown 

BBC documentary ‘No more girls and boys, can our kids go gender free?’

Youtube ‘Beyond the Blue and Pink toy divide’ Elizabeth Sweet

Ana-Luisa Franco is the Training Facilitator and Content Developer at Little Scientists. As an Early Childhood Teacher, she believes in fostering educational environments that encourage exploration and thoughtful learning. With over 20 years of experience in early childhood education, she has held a variety of roles and is a passionate advocate for inquiry-based learning, slow pedagogy and infant and toddler curriculum.

Koralynn is a Yorta Yorta, Wiradjuri and Maori woman who has been an early childhood educator for 7 years. She is the mother of 8 young children, and attended Berrimba childcare herself as a child and now the Early Years Manager Koralynn has a strong passion for culture and children, and has been involved in early years committees to help support outcomes for children in the early years spaces. 

Resources mentioned in the episode:

https://www.snaicc.org.au/

https://www.vaeai.org.au/

https://www.vacsal.org.au/

https://bubupwilam.org.au/

https://yappera.com.au/

https://www.aweandwonder.com.au/

https://www.8ways.online/

She has always been part of diverse educational communities. She is a highly sought leader and mentor in the early childhood profession.
 
 Red’s work includes consultancy, creating professional development and resourcing for early childhood that is committed to inclusive and innovative pedagogical approaches to curriculum. Red is a Pedagogical and Artist in Residence, the Founding Chair of the Social Justice In Early Childhood Foundation. Red is the co-writer and performer of wildly popular “The National Quality Framework – The Musical!” and “Inclusion – The Musical!”

 You can find Red at @drredrubyscarlet on Instagram or https://redrubyscarlet.com.au/

Susan grew up in the rural area of Darwin and completed her undergraduate studies there, but ended up in Melbourne pursuing her postgraduate training at the University of Melbourne.

Susan came to the early childhood years as a new graduate, when she picked up a role as a therapist in an early intervention program working specifically with autistic preschoolers and their families. Susan loved seeing the progress a child could make in their learning across just a year, but more than that she absolutely loved the joy of play - what a job!

Susan worked first as a therapist and then moved up to consulting with families, early educators and schools. The experience she gained in this field was so formative, and it was from that point on that Susan was drawn to working within the early childhood space. 

In recent years Susan has worked as a consultant under the School Readiness Funding model, which has given her the chance to collaborate with educators across the Loddon-Campaspe region - a region close to her heart as she has extensive family connections across north-central Victoria and spend many a weekend birdwatching across the beautiful landscape!

The SRF program has given Susan an opportunity to learn even more about the delight and challenges of growing a kindergarten community and getting our children ready, willing and able to start school. Susan believes it is a privilege to be part of so many children’s journeys (through their educators), and continues to be passionate about enhancing the joys and opportunities of childhood for every child in our care.

Drawing inspiration from our guiding philosophy The Shine Bright Way, we’ll be bringing you a series of conversations, inspirations, and big ideas from all aspects of the Early Childhood Sector. 

From keeping the joy, professionalism, and making every moment matter, to collaborative generative thinking, foregrounding First Nations perspectives, being open to complexity and meaningful documentation we’ll tackle the big conversations, be inspired by the stories of our colleagues and be reminded of why we do the work we do - to create the best possible start in life for children.  

The Shine Bright Way was developed to reignite the passion, curiosity and joy in early childhood educators, to allow them to refocus on the real work in an ever-changing industry.   

So what is the real work and what does this look like in practice? listen to the next episode to find out more... in the meantime,  subscribe to the podcast, join us on Instagram @shineon_podcast and find us on Facebook.