Kath Dickson Family Centre

🏆 Excellence in Family Day Care Awards 2026 – Nominations Now Open!

Now is your opportunity to recognise the incredible people who make Family Day Care so special.

Families can nominate:
⭐ A Family Day Care Educator
⭐ A Family Day Care Coordinator
⭐ A Family Day Care Service

A nomination is a meaningful way to acknowledge the dedication, care and commitment these professionals bring to children and families every day.

Nominate an educator here
🔗https://fdca.formstack.com/forms/eoty_nomination_2026

Nominate a coordinator here
🔗https://fdca.formstack.com/forms/coty_nomination_2026

Nominate a family day care service here
🔗 https://fdca.formstack.com/forms/soty_nomination_2026

Nominations close on 2 July 2026.

We are proud to celebrate the amazing educators and coordinators who support children to learn, grow and thrive through Family Day Care.

💙 Celebrating 25 Years of Sue! 💙

Today, we celebrate an incredible milestone as Sue marks 25 years with Kath Dickson Family Centre.

For a quarter of a century, Sue has been a familiar face, a caring mentor, a trusted support for families, and a source of fun, laughter and connection for countless children in our community.

When asked about Sue, our children said things like:
✨ “We have the best time ever.”
✨ “She lets us play downstairs.”
✨ “Best time ever at sueys”
✨ “Everyone is kind.”
✨ “At Suey’s you can play games and it’s really fun here.”

Parents have shared how welcomed and supported they feel, describing Sue as someone who is always there to listen, offer guidance, and greet families with open arms.

Over the past 25 years, Sue has witnessed our service grow and evolve, but her commitment to creating a safe, nurturing and joyful environment for children and families has never changed.

Thank you, Sue, for your dedication, kindness and the positive impact you’ve made on so many lives. We are so grateful to have you as part of the Kath Dickson family.

🎉 Please join us in congratulating Sue on this amazing achievement and helping us celebrate 25 wonderful years!

💐💙

🌈 Beading with Purpose 🌈

At Kindy, beading is so much more than creating colourful decorations.

As children carefully thread beads, they are developing important fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, concentration, and patience. These experiences help strengthen the small muscles in their hands and fingers that are essential for future writing, drawing, and self-help skills such as doing up buttons and zips.

Beading also encourages creativity, problem-solving, colour recognition, pattern making, and mathematical thinking as children sort, count, and sequence their beads.

Most importantly, children experience a wonderful sense of pride and accomplishment as they create something uniquely their own. ✨

Sometimes the simplest activities provide the richest learning opportunities.

Hey Caloundra parents! Looking for something fun (and FREE) to do with your little one this Wednesday?

Our Pop-Up Play Day is the perfect mix of play, learning, and community connection 🌈🌿🤝

Your child can explore hands-on, play-based activities while you chat with friendly local early childhood services and discover supports available right here in our community.

Featuring:
🩷 Kath Dickson Family Centre
🩷 Kids and Co.Lab
🩷 Sunshine Coast Health
🩷 BUSHkids
🩷 Play Matters Australia

Just drop in and say hi — no RSVP needed
Sign up for your FREE Play Matters membership before you arrive:
https://playmatters.org.au/membership/play-pass/sign-up

Safe to say there was plenty of mess, laughter and happy memories made ✨🎨💛
Thank you for letting us be part of it! We absolutely loved seeing families connect through play!

A huge thank you to the incredible team at Kath Dickson Family Centre for making Messy Play Matters happen last week on a mini scale 💛

We had over 500 attendees across 4 Community Playgroup sessions.
Families enjoyed playing, sharing lots of laughs, and creating wonderfully messy memories together 🎨✨

We truly appreciate everything you do to make such a positive impact on the experiences of children and families!

🎓 Ready to take the next step in your early childhood career?

The CHC50125 Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care is designed for educators wanting to grow their leadership skills, deepen their knowledge, and create meaningful learning experiences for children.

✨ Flexible workplace-based delivery
✨ Enrol anytime
✨ Monthly trainer visits
✨ Funding pathways may apply

Invest in your future while continuing to work in the industry you love.

🔗 Follow the link to enrol today!
https://kdiecs.jobreadyrto.com.au/apply_to_courses/CHC50125_Diploma

Thanks for your support Cr Tim McMahon - TRC

Huge shoutout to Trish for Crows Nest Mobile Toy Library.

Her toy library is the first of its kind in Australia. From her base in Crows Nest, this library on wheels gets to work across Toowoomba Region and far into Western Queensland, allowing regional kids the chance to play with and borrow toys.

But it doesn’t stop there. Every week, the Crows Nest community meets up with kids being able to borrow toys from their base, take them home and play with them then return them.

The evidence is clear. Playing with toys does wonders for young children’s brains. Those who live in small communities shouldn’t be disadvantaged.

Trish first floated this idea with me early in 2021. It’s great to see it off the ground working with and Education Queensland.

Council has helped with some small grants, but they are always after donations of ‘gently loved’ toys for the library.

I’m so proud to see this program up and running, demand in small towns across southern Qld is huge.

The team (l-r) , Trish, .trevormanteufel_trc, , yours truly.

Also Trish is active and demand is huge in your area.

🌟 National Volunteer Week 2026 🌟
This year’s theme, ‘It’s Your Year to Volunteer’, celebrates the incredible people who give their time, skills, and heart to strengthen communities across Australia.

A heartfelt thank you to our amazing Toy Library volunteers 💛
From cleaning and repairing toys, tending the gardens, helping with administration, preparing grant applications, organising shelves, and everything in between. Your dedication keeps our Toy Library running and welcoming for local families every week.

Your generosity, kindness, and community spirit make such a meaningful difference, and we truly couldn’t do it without you.

Thank you for all that you do, this really is your year ✨