You can download the awards book here
Stella Louis lives and breathes commitment to supporting and nurturing early childhood educators. It is a vocation in which she excels.
She is dedicated to improving the professional development and expertise of educators and the lives and learning of young children and their families. She makes time and space to care and to offer guidance or support to others. While being innovative and creative, she is not afraid to speak out and be an advocate, to retain a principled stance in the face of adversity or challenge, while always being humble about her remarkable skill and expertise.
Stella’s deep knowledge of theory coupled with her experience in practice and willingness to step into others’ shoes equips her with an extraordinary ability to convey very complex ideas in ways that make sense, feel relevant and meaningful and continue to inspire those she trains.
Stella is also highly reflective, seeking ways to extend her knowledge and striving to enhance her skills. She has achieved a PhD, which was turned into a book, and the training and CPD she provides is another means of dialogue and reflection for self-improvement, as she listens attentively to colleagues and trainees.
To accompany her courses, Stella has written a hugely popular Froebel Trust pamphlet on ‘Observing Young Children’ which was launched in a webinar attended by almost a thousand participants, demonstrating Stella’s popularity and the respect for her as a valued trainer, author and consultant in early years.
Stella has been pivotal to the creation of Froebelian courses for early years practitioners, which explore children’s learning through play and first-hand experiences and how adults can support and extend each child’s developing autonomy.
Local circumstances, curricula, trainees’ knowledge and skills are the starting point for every course. This ensures inclusive professional development that is sensitive to contexts and cultures. Last year, Stella created an important new course – Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Connectedness – nurturing trainees’ thoughtfulness about each child’s and family’s strengths.
Their popularity has grown through word of mouth, which is testament to Stella’s effectiveness as a trainer and leader of a team of 22 endorsed tutors whom she also trains, mentors and supports.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Liz Edwards, Janet Packer, Jan White – Outdoors Thinking, Sheffield
Liz, Janet and Jan are inspiring as individuals, but as a team they are indomitable. A desire to support the early years community in appreciating the important role their outdoor areas have in children’s play and learning led to them developing the Certificate in Outdoor Practice (Level 3).
They motivate trainers to deliver at the highest standards by ensuring the materials they have are of an equally high quality. The team were responsive to feedback from the trainers, making them feel valued and part of the development process, which gave a sense of ownership of the project.
FINALISTS
• Aaron Bradbury, Early Years Reviews
• Kate Peach and Jo Caswell, Peachwell Early Years Consultancy – South East
• Becky Watanabe, Acorn Early Years – Milton Keynes; Northamptonshire; Bedfordshire
CRITERION
Open to an individual or team responsible for early years and childcare training in colleges, training companies, as a consultant or in-house for nursery groups, etc.