Meet the Team

I began my teaching career in 2003, as an assistant in a beautiful little service in Jessina St Kariong. I have worked across the sector in various settings before settling at Parklands Preschool in 2020. 

I live in the area with my husband and two children. I love to relax in nature, in the garden, bushwalking, exploring new places and great coffee spots! I have unconventional pets - bees and worms! I also enjoy yoga and motorbike riding.

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I believe children are capable. They are endlessly capable of learning, discovering, wondering, experimenting, growing and taking care of themselves and each other. They are endlessly capable of surprising us!

I love to inspire curiosity alongside responsibility. I love having conversations about setting goals and being curious, whilst also taking physical and emotional care of self and others. Children learn best when they are doing; hands-on play-based learning is the most wonderful way to develop in these precious early years.

Building relationships with children and their families is the most enjoyable part of my role as a teacher and also the most important. For me Early Years Teaching is all about the relationships that grow between educators, families and their children. It's about supporting families in this enormous journey of raising children.

And it's about being connected - with each other, with nature and with country, and with the world around us.

Hi, my name is Anita, more affectionately known to the children at Parklands as ’The lady in the office’.  As my name suggests, I am the Administration Officer at Parklands Preschool but this isn’t where my Parklands Preschool journey started.  

 

Parklands Preschool has held a special place in my heart for many years.  I first became aware of Parklands when my Husband and I moved into the area from Sydney in 2012 and found most of the children in our neighbourhood were attending Parklands. As a new  Mum, there was no doubt that my 2 daughters would attend such an amazing Preschool too.  Within 6 months of my eldest daughter attending Parklands I joined the Committee knowing I wanted to be involved in maintaining this invaluable community service, and before the year was out, I was Secretary until I then stepped into the big shoes left by my predecessor, Heather Poole and became ‘The lady in the office’ in 2022. 

 

But who is ‘The lady in the office’?  A country girl at heart, I grew up on the land with my parents, twin brother and older brother.  I spent my youth dancing in my Mothers Dance Company, riding horses and motorbikes, rounding up sheep and cattle, chasing chickens and swimming in dams and all together frolicking under the outback skys of Wailwan Country,  Binnaway.  Completing year 12, my next adventure awaited, University in the ‘big smoke’.  I double majored in Marketing and Management and after graduating I moved to Sydney working with various big companies in Sales and Marketing roles.  Whilst in Sydney, I married my best friend outside under the sun with our beloved dog Jessie by our side.  We both love the outdoors and animals and comes as no surprise that we share our home with 4 chooks, a dog, veggie gardens and fruit trees - our way of bringing a country life to our family.

 

Although I am not teaching the children at Parklands,  I am passionate about advocating for fairness and equality, and believe that assumption or opinion on ability of those living with ‘lived experience’ has no place…ever.  To this end, my daughters look at disability as ‘differently abled’.  We are all different, so we are all differently abled, some more than others, but assuming that someone ‘can or can’t’ do something has no place in my world.  

 

As my role is more behind the scenes, my favourite parts of the day are greeting and farewelling our families and those beautiful moments when I get a ’tap tap tap’ on my window and fumbling fingers trying to make a love heart, to me, 'The lady in the office' that gets to look out my window and smile at these beautiful little people, that are already making a positive difference in the world.

Families: I believe families are to be respected and utilised as a resource that holds fundamental information on their own children.

Working in partnership with families contributes to the foundations of children’s learning.

Children: I believe children have the right to an education as it is an insight to the world, providing experiences that gives children the essential life tools for survival.

I believe in making learning real through analysing what children already know and what they would like to know by providing hands on experiences that use all the
senses, to reflect, question and determine their thinking.

 

Community: I believe children have a role to play in the world. What affects the community effects our children. It is our obligation for children to know their community and what lies outside their homes.

As early childhood advocates we are able to represent children’s voices in the public forum and exhibit their learning at the most highest level.

Educators: I believe educators have the right to equality regardless of their qualification. Everyone has knowledge to give as we all have different life experiences.

I value and respect my fellow educators, uniting as a team, and working together to ensure children can be the best people they can be.

Environment: I believe the environment plays an important role in children’s learning through space, furnishings, light, a sense of aesthetics, plants and natural materials all invite curiosity and learning.

I believe the learning space should be a representation of the people who use the space. The atmosphere should convey a sense of belonging.

Teaching Approaches: I believe by combining various teaching approaches from around the world and applying them, the service is able to reflect and define what works and is beneficial to the children within their own context.