Queensland Trainers/Assessors
Jodi Brackenbury
Trainer/Assessor
jbrackenbury@trainingatwork.com.au
Jodi started her career in Child Care in January 1997 working as a Family Day Care Provider. Jodi enjoying working with children so much that she decided to commence studying the Certificate III in Children Services. After this the study bug had hit and Jodi had an overwhelming urge to continue studies. She studied the Diploma in Children’s Services and once this was completed wanted to expand on this in a Long Day Care Centre environment and so accepted a role as Group Leader of a Pre-school Room.
Jodi was offered the opportunity to become a Director in 2004. In 2005, she enrolled in the Advanced Diploma with CMC Training at work which was also successfully completed.
Jodi’s passion for making a difference in Child Care continued to grow and in January 2006 she was thrilled to receive the opportunity to join CMC Training at Work as a Workplace Trainer and Assessor. Jodi’s role has expanded to allow her to share her industry knowledge and experience with current and future students and employees in Child Care settings not only as an assessor but also in a consultancy role delivering this service to centres in Brisbane and some regional areas.
Stacey Blair
Trainer/Assessor
sblair@trainingatwork.com.au
Stacey started her Childcare career journey in 1996. Like many childcare workers she started as a Trainee Assistant, moving into a Group Leader role and later working as a Director. Stacey was later appointed Field Officer for 18 Childcare centres throughout Australia. During these years Stacey continued her studies achieving the Advanced Diploma in Children’s Services and the Certificate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training.
Stacey has always loved to help and support the children, parents and staff whilst working in the centres both as a Director and Field Officer, but in October 2005 Stacey fulfilled her dream to train others when she joined the CMC Training at Work team. Having been involved in the CMC training model as a workplace supervisor and overseeing all the traineeships within the group of centres she worked with, she was eager to transfer her knowledge to another level.
Stacey now travels to North Queensland as well as around her home turf of the Redlands district, still supporting centre directors, students, trainees and apprentices, but now in the role of trainer / assessor!
Helen Buckle
Trainer/Assessor
hbuckle@trainingatwork.com.au
Helen joined CMC Training at work as an experienced person in the Child Care field as well as in the business world. She has her Bachelor of Education Early Childhood and her Certificate IV in Workplace Training and Assessment.
Helen began her working life as Director of a Preschool in Papua New Guinea, where she also set up her own Preschool for the National and Expatriate population when her first child was of Preschool age. When the need for this passed, she ran a corner store on the plantation on which she lived.
Several years after returning to Australia, Helen rejoined the education field in Child Care, working her way quickly from Assistant, through Group Leader and Preschool teacher to Director again. She has been a Director this time for over 10 years, followed by an 18 month stint in Real Estate. When a position became available with the rapidly growing CMC Training at Work team in Brisbane, she willingly accepted and really enjoys imparting her years of knowledge gleaned from her Child Care experiences, her ongoing studies as well as her personal family life. As well as training and assessing child care students in their Certificate III, Diploma and Advanced Diplomas, Helen is also the Trainer for Certificate IV in Training and Assessment in Queensland.
Cherie Downes
Trainer/Assessor
cdownes@trainingatwork.com.au
Having obtained a Diploma of Teaching (Primary) Cherie began her career in 1989 teaching years 1 and 2. With the call to early childhood, she moved into child care in 1991 and worked as Group Leader and later Director until 1999. Cherie says her greatest achievement then happened with the birth of her beautiful daughter, and only child, Chloe. In 2001 Cherie returned to the workforce as a preschool teacher aide until she was successful in her pursuit of a trainer / assessor position. Cherie completed her Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood) in 1999 and as she had also obtained a Certificate IV in Workplace Training, she was able to move into the world of training in 2002, where she says she found her niche. In her role with two other colleges prior to CMC Training at Work, she has been involved in classroom delivery, field assessments, recognition processes, and has written modules and workshops. Cherie has supported students through all levels of qualifications – Cert III, Dip and Adv Dip.
Cherie was thrilled to be successful in obtaining a position with CMC Training at Work because she believes in the mode of delivery offered, and feels clustering and assessment choices are much needed in the QLD market. Cherie believes training allows her to give something back to the Industry that she has learned so much from over the years. Cherie values being part of a team that through quality training is assisting in the quality of care being offered to young Australians. Living and working on the Gold Coast, Cherie is assisting Kirsty in this very large region that has a lot of child care centres whom have shown enormous interest in CMC’s model.
Kelvin Lui
Step Mentor
Kelvin Lui has the very satisfying job of being a Mentor to our STEP students and their host employers as part of CMC’s Indigenous Employment project funded by DEWR.
With 15 years experience behind him working with Indigenous people supporting them in transition to work programs, Kelvin is able to utilise this experience to guide the CMC STEP participants from pre employment, through a traineeship and into a full time position as a qualified child care assistant or aged care worker.
As an elder in the Indigenous Community, Manager of the “Indigenous Intrudaz” (an Indigenous RAP group), and now as Mentor to students across Brisbane, Kelvin has a very busy but rewarding schedule indeed.
Kirsty Eade
Trainer/Assessor
kirsty@trainingatwork.com.au
Kirsty has established herself as a much loved and respected trainer in QLD and has found her passion in the training industry after many years as a Group Leader in various child care settings.
Having supported trainees, apprentices, full time students and those studying via commonwealth funded programs, Kirsty is experienced in all study delivery types from Certificate III through to the Advanced Diploma.
Currently supporting the QLD team in the marketing of the College and assisting with the high demand for enrolments, Kirsty will commence training with our first NAAP class in October 2005.
Next year will see Kirsty continue in the challenging role of supporting our first group of full time students as well as establishing herself as our CMC Trainer/Assessor for the Gold Coast region.
Julee Early
Trainer/Assessor
jearly@trainingatwork.com.au
Julee has worked in the Early Childhood field for over twenty years. Her first interest was when her own children, who are now 25 and 21, were very young and she took on the role as a Family Day Care provider. Julee’s love for this type of work steered her away from her banking background and into the areas of Child Care and especially Long Day Care.
Julee began her career in Long Day Care in 1987as an Assistant and found the career very fulfilling so she decided to study for the Associate Diploma which enabled her to become a Group Leader. After 10 years as a Group Leader Julee upgraded her Associate Diploma to a Diploma and then in 2001 studied for the Advance Diploma in Community Services. In 2001 Julee became a Director and in 2005 she became an Operations Manager. Julee has worked her way up in the child care industry and on the way has completed many in service training sessions and workshops.
As a Director and Operations Manager Julee has guided, supported and mentored many staff through their Certificates, Diplomas and Advanced Diplomas. Julee felt the desire to pursue her love of training for new and existing staff in the child care industry and, in October 2006, she joined CMC Training at Work as a workplace trainer and assessor. Julee also holds a Certificate IV in Workplace Training and Assessment.
Susie Gauci
Trainer/Assessor
sgauci@trainingatwork.com.au
Susie started with CMC - Training at Work in October 2006. Having been in the childcare industry since 1996, and taking a break in 2004 to raise her son, Susie was keen to venture into training as an extension of her career. As many of us have done, Susie started as an assistant and worked her way up finally becoming a Director of a busy double centre. Susie holds an Advanced Diploma in Children's Services and a Cert IV in Training and Assessment. Susie says she was lucky enough to have a great mentor when she was studying her Diploma and knows how much of a difference that makes.
Susie feels it’s her turn to make a difference by supporting students as they now juggle family, work and study and that’s why she joined the CMC Training at Work family.
Sharyn Gillick
Trainer/Assessor
Sharyn has had over 12 years experience in the children's services industry. After graduating from university as a registered teacher in Queensland, with a Bachelor of Arts (drama/psychology) and Graduate Diploma of Education (Early Childhood) she started her career as a contact Director and Group Leader for 3 - 4 years olds at a brand new double centre. This was a challenging and rewarding role that reinforced her passion for working with children. The ever increasing demands of managing a centre as Director grew until she was made a non-contact Director in early 1997. With this role, Sharyn maintained a positive role model to both staff and children, as she ensured consistent time on the floor interacting with the day to day experiences in the classroom.
After taking on the role of managing a group of child care centres, Sharyn took a break to start her family, and returned to work as a Trainer/Assessor for a registered training organisation. She has relished this position, as one of her strengths is motivating and 1assisting students to understand their studies and strive to reach their full potential. Sharyn has been responsible for full time students, trainees, apprentices, and student's studying externally. After 5 years as a Trainer/Assessor, she is looking forward to using the CMC training at work's portfolio manuals and 'work-based training' assessment, as she feels this is an innovative way to cater for the ranging needs of childcare professionals working towards recognisable qualifications.
Susan Jones
Trainer/Assessor
Sue Jones joined Kelvin Lui in 2007 as a second Mentor to assist with the expanding STEP project and to provide the CMC team with knowledge of the aboriginal culture in order to offer increased support to our indigenous trainees and students. Sue has 12 years experience as a Community Education Counsellor and has worked in the local community as a Police Liaison Officer. Sue will assist our trainees, staff and host employers across both the children’s services and aged care industries.
Sharren Robertson
Trainer/Assessor
Sharren joined the CMC team to support the delivery of the Certificate III and IV in Aged Care in QLD. With changes coming soon to the aged care regulations, Sharren knows she is in for a busy time.
With 10+ years involvement in the Industry, Sharren’s experience covers in home care, agency work, nursing homes, dementia and palliative care. In addition, Sharren also has experience in assisting clients with a disability. Having worked in Mackay, the Gold Coast and now Brisbane, Sharren is familiar with a variety of aged care services and facilities. Sharren will deliver training and assessment of the Certificate III and IV in Aged Care in QLD with options available being RPL, workplace based or distance learning. Sharren will also host a variety of in service workshops, including Food Safety, for aged care workers.
Tania Staines
Trainer/Assessor
Tania joins the CMC team following several year experience as a centre Director. Maintaining a high quality, busy, child care service that was recognised for a Business Achievers Award several years in a row was all part of a day’s work for Tania and a role she cherished. With the completion of her Cert IV in Training and Assessment, Tanis’s next dream was to share her experiences with others as a trainer within children’s services. With a passion for supporting her community, the role in CMC’s STEP program was perfect for Tania and she now balances a busy role as trainer / assessor combined with being the Coordinator of 30 STEP child care trainees.