Wednesday June 29, 2022
Volume 37 No. 24
$1
inc. GST
The Cobar Weekly Council allocates $50,000 funding to ROEF Pg 2
Teachers at all schools will go on strike Pg 8
EPA confirms soil is not contaminated Pg 9
Gold star for the Kubby House team It was all smiles last week at the Kubby House Child Care Centre after the centre and staff were given a high assessment rating by the Department of Education. Kubby House underwent an Assessment and Rating (A&R) process at the beginning of the month and received a ‘Meeting NQS’ (National Quality Standard), which demonstrates the centre is meeting childcare standards in all seven different areas of their operations. Early childhood learning consultant Nichole Jenkins has been supporting the centre in a consulting role for the past two years and said she was thrilled with the outcome. Mrs Jenkins said the NQS is a key aspect of the National Quality Framework and sets a high, national benchmark for early childhood education and care services in Australia. She said an overall rating of ‘Meeting’ is considered to be a great achievement and she praised the hard work of the staff and centre coordinator Peta Rufo on their achievement. “The work Peta and the staff have done is quite extensive and it’s been achieved in such a short expanse of time,” Mrs Jenkins said. “While it’s their core business to achieve high standards, it’s the impact those high standards makes on the quality of care for children that is paramount. “Peta is exceptional, so kind and caring and such a fabulous leader. “Kubby has always had a focus on improvement and lifting the capacity of the team, and now that’s coming to fruition which is so wonderful to see,” Mrs Jenkins said. Up until last year, the centre was run by a volunteer committee with Cobar Shire Council taking ownership in September 2021. Council’s general manager Peter Vlatko said
after a few tumultuous years, one of their first jobs was to engage Mrs Jenkins to do a selfassessment of the service. “We wanted to understand the areas where improvement was required and focus our attention in those areas,” Mr Vlatko said. “Possibly if we had an A&R at that point in time, we would have expected to receive a
‘working towards’ rating in some, if not most quality areas, so to receive ‘Meeting’ for all seven quality areas is a fantastic result. “It’s a testament to the work that has been done over the past 10 months from all staff involved with the service, particularly since Peta’s engagement as the Centre Coordinator in January 2022.” Continued Page 2.
Kubby House Child Care Centre coordinator Peta Rufo, council’s general manager Peter Vlatko and mayor Peter Abbott and Kubby staff members Tori Thomas and Dakota Tatchell were all smiles last week after receiving a ‘Meeting NQS’ rating. ▪ Contributed