Gympie votes Heidi Webb region’s best child care educator

Parkside Early Learning Gympie’s Heidi Webb has emerged from a 27-strong field of candidates to be named the region’s best child care educator.

A 27-year career as a child care educator has delivered a great many things for Heidi Webb, but there is still room for surprises.

The Parkside Early Learning Centre educator said this was one of the emotions she felt after emerging from a strong field of 27 Gympie region child care educators to claim the top spot in The Gympie Times’ online search for the best of 2023.

Mrs Webb received 15 per cent of the vote, four percentage points higher than Kids Bizz Early Education Centre’s Jessica Bell who took out second place.

Third place was a three-way tie between Ms Bell’s Kids Bizz colleague Jenni Stokes, Goodstart Early Learning Jones Hill’s Lissa Dooley, and Busy Bees’ Jo Robinson.

Parkside Early Learning Centre's Heidi Webb with (from left) Emily McMullen, Lachlan Joy, Bentley Byers, Kip Smith, and Oscar Gopurenko.

Mrs Webb described the result was “humbling” and “surprising”.

“I work with some amazing educators, just beautiful people,” she said.

“You’ve got to really love this job … to last in it.

“It’s the most rewarding job, but it’s the most exhausting job as well.

“Sometimes it can be a bit heartbreaking,” she said.

“Last year we had kids that had floods … little people go through a lot now,” she said.

Parkside Early Learning Centre's Heidi Webb received 15 per cent of the online vote in The Gympie Times’ search for the region’s best child care educator 2023.

She was unable to put a ballpark figure on the number of children she had taught across her career, which started on the Gold Coast in 1996.

It was always the career of choice.

“I had a teacher that made a difference, and my mum was a teacher … and I was not one of those smart kids,” Mrs Webb said.

“I wanted to be a teacher so that I didn’t have a child feel like they weren’t smart.”

She moved to Gympie in 2011, which had been home before first moving south.

Mrs Webb said the poll, which ran online at The Gympie Times following nominations from Facebook readers, had sparked an outpouring of support from her students.

“I had parents from about 10 years ago where I taught twins and they were ‘we’re so excited, you’re on the polls and you’re leading’,” she said.

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Parkside Early Learning Centre's Heidi Webb with (from left) Bentley Byers, Lachlan Joy, Kip Smith, Oscar Gopurenko and Emily McMullen. Mrs Webb said the results of the poll were “humbling” and “surprising”, especially given the number of “brilliant” educators in the Gympie region.

“It was nice to get back in touch; families found me on Facebook and said ‘we’re so excited’ or you walk down the street and kids are in high school and they still give you a hug”.

Seeing those former students was rewarding too.

Mrs Webb said it certainly made you feel “older” when you saw them driving, but “somehow it lifts you, it makes you feel really good because they’re turning into those amazing young people you knew they were going to be”.

“Young people … get a lot of flack but I just think the community doesn’t have the opportunity to see what we see.”

“From when I was first teaching to now, the world’s changed.

“They’re resilient and they’re incredible, and it’s a real privilege to be able to say ‘I taught you, look at what you’ve become’.”

Mrs Webb had no shortage of praise for other educators across the region too, including the two dozen she pipped for the top spot in the poll.

“There’s so many brilliant educators out there and I don’t think they get enough credit,” she said.

Originally published as Gympie votes Heidi Webb region’s best child care educator