00:00 My name is Yasmin O'Brien and I work at O'Connor Cooperative Early Childhood School and I am
00:06 in charge of the preschool and I work in kindergarten on Fridays.
00:10 First of all, congratulations on your awards.
00:13 Thank you.
00:14 How did you feel when you won?
00:16 Overwhelmed and very humble and deeply appreciate the recognition.
00:27 And tell me about why did you get into teaching and early childhood in particular?
00:32 Because first of all I was focused on the very young, preschool to year two because
00:39 I want to make a difference in the lives of the most vulnerable and impressionable children
00:46 so that they can help build their self-concept and self-esteem so they can be sustainable
00:53 and have purpose honours as well as embed their environment to be cared for and embed
01:00 sustainability in the program so that they can have a healthy and happy future.
01:06 Yasmin's love, passion and care shines through in all that she does.
01:13 She embraces diversity and inclusion.
01:17 She includes everybody that comes into our school environment including obviously the
01:22 children, the families, staff, any community members and as I said she embraces diversity
01:29 and inclusion and she makes everyone feel like they belong.
01:33 And so it's very important that children are exposed to nature and spend a lot of time
01:38 in nature because there's been many studies where it raises their well-being and self-esteem
01:45 and it teaches them to appreciate and love the gift that we have on this earth.
01:52 And so what we do with Country as Teachers, we take the children out on Country and they
01:58 listen, see, observe, hear and just for quietly for 10 to 15 minutes and then they share in
02:10 a yarning circle what they felt and what they saw and what they would like to know in their
02:16 wonderings as well.
02:18 So that's what we do out on Country and the preschool have Bush School and Country every
02:26 Thursday for the majority of their time at school and we're just commencing Mondays as
02:31 well.
02:32 Ready?
02:33 1, 2, 3, yay!
02:36 Because they're so impressionable and vulnerable at that age and they're eager to learn and
02:40 so it's really important that they feel a sense of belonging and that they can thrive
02:45 in their environment and once they have that stability they can just shoot through all
02:51 the other years with confidence and self-esteem and a love for each other and the planet.
02:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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