2025 has been an incredible year for Rise & Shine Kindergarten, a year filled with innovation, connection, play and meaningful milestones. As a 100% family and Australian owned provider, we’re proud of our accomplishments we’ve made while continuing to nurture curiosity, imagination and a genuine love of learning.
Award-Winning Excellence
This year, Rise & Shine became the first early childhood provider to receive the Teachers’ Guild of NSW Excellence Award, recognising our commitment to innovation and inquiry-based learning through our Shine Advantage Curriculum. This honour reflects the passion and dedication of our educators who bring learning to life each and every day.
Innovation in Action: Orbit Takes Flight
2025 also saw the exciting launch of our Orbit Mobile STEM Shuttle, officially opened with the support of our Brand Ambassador, Mary Fowler. Fully equipped with holograms, LEGO, engineering, telescopes, and coding stations, the Shuttle brings hands-on STEM learning to children across our centres, schools, and community events. With 39 Orbit excursions and 40 Science Week shows delivered, our Orbit team has inspired imagination and exploration across NSW and QLD.
Early to Excellence Program
We proudly introduced our Early to Excellence Program, building meaningful partnerships with local schools to further support our Transition to School Program. Through shared activities, reading groups, excursions, and Orbit experiences, children in our partner schools are engaging with exciting new STEM resources that spark curiosity and our Rise & Shine children are becoming more comfortable and prepared for their transition into Primary School.
Care+ at the Heart
Care+, our personalised approach to care for infants and toddlers, remained a major focus in 2025. This year, we proudly hosted a dedicated Care+ Conference featuring RIE Associate Sharon Smith from New Zealand as our keynote speaker. Sharon also visited several of our services to provide hands-on support and mentorship, further strengthening our commitment to this care approach.
With ongoing guidance from our Operations team and our Curriculum & Practice Manager, our Care+ approach is something we deeply embed across our services. Together, our crew works to ensure every child and family feels supported, safe, valued and connected.
In 2025, we also reinforced our focus on safety by appointing a Group Safety Officer across our organisation, along with Centre Safety Officers in every service, ensuring a consistent and proactive approach to safety across all Rise & Shine communities.
Growing Together
On top of delivering our curriculum and programs within the services, this year we celebrated a number of highlights across our community, including:
• Delivering over 2000 Soccer Joeys sessions
• 30 Kindy+ excursions took place and a refreshed Kindy+ Bus wrap
• We hosted Two Shine Conferences, professional development events available for all our crew. The theme for 2025 was Play with Purpose.
• Over 12 LEAP professional development sessions were delivered
• We featured on Two national TV appearances showcasing our innovation
• Our Smart Start rooms had makeovers preparing for our 10 years of Smart Start Anniversary in 2026
And personal milestones, three weddings and eight new babies across our Rise & Shine crew.
Everything we accomplished in 2025 was made possible by our passionate educators, families and valued community partners.
And we’re just getting started. We have big plans for 2026, so watch this space!
If you’d like to learn more about Rise & Shine Kindergarten, enrol your child or explore career opportunities or partnerships, we’d love to hear from you. We are currently finalising our last positions for 2026, making now the perfect time to connect with our team.
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