A not-for-profit community preschool at Gilgandra, 70km north of Dubbo, has taken out a number of state and national awards in the last several weeks, shining the light firmly on its progressive and innovative programs and services and dedicated team of educators.

In early October, Gilgandra Preschool won the Outstanding Service Award at the national HESTA Early Childhood Education and Care Awards which recognise the front-line educators and carers at the very heart of Australia's early childhood education system.

Announced in Perth on October 6, Gilgandra Preschool was recognised for its inclusive and innovative approach to rural early education, offering fully subsidised fees, transport initiatives, onsite therapy, and cultural programs.

It was the first of many awards over the coming weeks for the 13-member Gilgandra Preschool team led by Kristy Hyndes, director, nominated supervisor and early childhood teacher.

"That was a massive surprise," Kristy said the HESTA award.

"[That award] was all about the inclusion that we offer here and accessibility of our services," she explained.

"We have early intervention programs and we contract an [occupational therapist and speech therapist] who come in once a week. They train up our staff as well, and we provide that at no cost to families," she told Dubbo Photo News, indicating they also facilitate bus travel enabling children from up to 50km away to attend preschool in Gilgandra.

The centre’s strive for innovation resulted in the team also being recognised at the national 2025 Reimagine Australia Awards in Sydney on October 27, which recognised excellence, innovation, and leadership in supporting children and families across Australia.

Gilgandra Preschool won the Innovation Award and was also a finalist in the Organisation of the Year (Small) category. They still weren’t done yet, taking out three awards – more than any other service – at a gala event on November 8 at the Excellence in Early Childhood Education Awards in Sydney, including Excellence in Children’s Safety, Excellence in Inclusivity Practices and Excellence in Training.

The attention is firmly on the Gilgandra Preschool, leading other services to seek them out and as well as families seeking quality education, Kristy said.

“We've had quite a few local services come in to observe our model and what we actually provide, because they're looking at doing something at their services,” she said.

Some children from Dubbo also attend the award-winning centre, and Kristy herself – who has notched up a decade with Gilgandra Preschool – also travels daily from her home in Dubbo.

“We're very proud of our achievements with these awards. We put a lot of dedication, a lot of passion into what we do, a lot of outside-the-box hard work,” Kristy explained.

“But it's for the children. Our forefront focus is the children and making sure that we put everything that we possibly can in place.”

The centre’s devotion to staff training is paramount to their philosophy and practice. The centre employs 13 staff when they are only required to have four for their size, Kristy said.

“Unless we've got confident and really well supported staff, our children can't flourish. That’s my belief here, so we invest a lot in our staff,” she added.

The awards for the small and progressive local service are a positive end to what has been a traumatic year across the wider early education sector in Australia following multiple reports of alleged sexual abuse and serious child safety concerns across the country.

The Gilgandra Preschool team is already on top of new requirements that have come into place following those revelations, and pleased to know they were already doing many of those things anyway, Kristy said.

In light of all that, Gilgandra Preschool’s awards have been particularly encouraging to its hardworking staff.

“They have been very excited and ecstatic, especially with all the negativity that's come out around early childhood in the media this year,” Kristy said.

“I really wanted my team, who put their everything into what they do, to be shown that I recognise them and for them to be recognised that they are doing an absolutely stellar job,” she concluded.