Everything Early Childhood
Welcome to the Everything Early Childhood Podcast, designed for Approved Providers, Nominated Supervisors and other child care business leaders. This fun, light-hearted and very serious podcast features weekly episodes on strategy, advice and conversations with fascinating and inspiring people from across our sector. Join the journey and have access to the tools and inspiration you need to create high performing child care businesses.
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Culture is more than a checklist with Jessica Staines
<p>Culture Is More Than a Checklist with Jessica Staines In this week’s episode of the Everything Early Childhood Podcast, I sit down with the incredible Jessica Staines from Koori Curriculum for a deeply important conversation about what it really means to embed Aboriginal perspectives meaningfully in early childhood. This isn’t a conversation about ticking boxes, adding a few cultural experiences during NAIDOC Week, or “getting it perfect.” It’s a conversation about relationships, curiosity, identity, belonging, and moving beyond tokenistic practice to create environments where culture is genuinely lived, reflected, respected, and celebrated every single day. Together, we unpack...
Your questions Answered - Q&A April 2026
<h1>PODCAST SHOW NOTES</h1> <h2>Q&A: You Don’t Need More Time… You Need a Different Way of Leading</h2> <p>This month’s Q&A episode is built completely from your questions — real challenges coming from the floor, your teams, and your leadership right now.</p> <p>Firstly, thank you to everyone who took the time to submit a question. I know how busy you are, and these episodes are designed to support you in real time — not just in theory, but in what you’re actually navigating every day.</p> <h2>What We Covered</h2> <p>In this epis...
Director File: Holding It All Together
<p>“I feel like I’m holding everything together… and I don’t know how much longer I can keep doing it.”</p> <p> </p> <p>In this month’s Director File, Leeza shares a powerful and deeply relatable letter from a director who is caught in the cycle of supporting everyone else… while slowly burning out themselves.</p> <p> </p> <p>This episode explores:</p> <p> </p> <p>• The blurred lines between connection and over-supporting your team</p> <p>• The emotional load of being “the one everyone goes to”</p> <p>• Why creating a safe culture can sometimes go too far</p> <p>• The hidden...
The Director’s Day: The Work No One Sees
<p>What does a Centre Director actually do all day?</p> <p> </p> <p>This episode answers that question… honestly.</p> <p> </p> <p>In this powerful and deeply relatable episode, Leeza walks you through the real, unfiltered reality of a director’s day, from the 5am phone calls, to compliance pressures, to emotional leadership, to the invisible load that is carried every single day.</p> <p> </p> <p>This episode is for:</p> <p> </p> <p>• Directors who need to feel seen, validated, and proud</p> <p>• Educators who want to better understand the role</p> <p>• Families who may not realis...
Are You Actually Ready to Solve It… Or Do You Want to Stay in the Fire?
<p>You say you’re overwhelmed.</p> <p>You say you’re burnt out.</p> <p>You say you can’t keep going like this…</p> <p> </p> <p>But when the opportunity comes to do something different…</p> <p>You stay in the fire.</p> <p> </p> <p>In this bold and honest solo episode, Leeza challenges one of the biggest patterns she is seeing across early childhood leadership right now, directors and owners who are stuck in reactive cycles, constantly putting out fires, even when they are given the tools to step out of them.</p> <p> </p> <p>This episod...
Director file: I refuse to work with her
<p>Director Files 🎙</p> <p>Alright… this month’s Director File had me laughing out loud when I read it.</p> <p>Not because it’s funny, but because I know so many directors dealing with this right now.</p> <p>A director wrote in about something she’s calling educator cancel culture.</p> <p>An educator walked into the office and said:</p> <p>“I refuse to work with her.”</p> <p>When the director suggested they talk through the issue, the response was:</p> <p>“Well maybe I should just resign then.”</p> <p>Over a conversation about pack-up.</p> <p>Thi...
The Real Leadership Questions Directors Are Asking Right Now (Q&A Episode)
<p>Directors & Approved Providers… these questions might feel familiar.</p> <p>Each month inside our Everything Early Childhood community, I ask one simple question: “What leadership situation is sitting in the back of your mind right now?”</p> <p>And the responses are always incredibly honest.</p> <p>This month we unpack questions around:</p> <p>• recruitment and second-guessing decisions</p> <p>• educators doing the bare minimum</p> <p>• feeling responsible for everyone’s emotions</p> <p>• navigating difficult team dynamics</p> <p>• the invisible weight of leadership</p> <p>If you’ve ever had one of those moments where you think… “Is it ju...
We Want to Do the Right Thing - Let’s Talk About the Changes
<p>Early childhood leadership comes with significant responsibility, especially when laws and regulations change. In this episode, we unpack the latest updates to early childhood legislation and what they mean for leaders, educators, and approved providers.</p> <p>Regulatory change can feel overwhelming, but strong leadership means staying informed, responsive, and focused on what matters most: children’s safety, wellbeing, and quality outcomes.</p> <p>We explore:</p> <p>- What the regulatory changes involve</p> <p>- Why these updates matter for early learning services</p> <p>- How leaders can support teams through compliance shifts</p> <p>- Tu...
Why leaders struggle to make decisions
<p>Head vs Heart: Why Leaders Struggle to Make Decisions Is there a decision sitting quietly in the background of your mind right now?</p> <p>In this episode, Leeza unpacks why leaders don’t actually struggle with decisions because they’re unclear, they struggle because they’re uncomfortable.</p> <p>Through the lens of early childhood leadership, we explore:</p> Cognitive dissonance (when your head and heart disagree) Decision fatigue and executive function depletion Loss aversion and fear of regret Emotional avoidance and nervous system regulation Why empathy without structure destabilises teams <p>You’ll learn why unresolved decisions increase...
The 5 Questions Directors Are Asking (But Rarely Say Out Loud)
<p>There are questions most child care directors carry quietly. Not because they don’t care. Not because they aren’t capable. But because leadership can be lonely — and saying these things out loud can feel risky.</p> <p>In this episode, I’m naming the five questions directors are asking (but rarely say out loud) and unpacking why these questions keep coming up, especially in seasons of pressure, responsibility, and growth.</p> <p>We explore:</p> The unspoken questions that sit beneath day-to-day leadership decisions Why these thoughts are so common among capable, committed directors What these questions are really te...
