Stacey Slabe

Stacey Slabe was born, raised and educated in South Africa.

While completing her Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education, Stacey taught Prep students who had never attended pre-school education. She was struck by the children’s interest to learn despite their under-resourced surroundings.

Stacey and her husband migrated to Australia in 1999. During the early years of raising her own family, she taught 4 year old kindergarten, worked at FKA Children’s Services advocating for children’s right to participate in learning that respected their belonging and diversity; and also opened her own Childcare centre. As director and educational leader, she guided the centre to achieve an ‘Exceeding’ rating, which was very rare at that time.

In recent years, Stacey has been involved in the Access to Early Learning program, through the Victorian Department of Education. This role supports both families and educators to ensure vulnerable children have regular, supported access to Early Childhood settings. Stacey’s knowledge of trauma informed practice, as well as a good understanding of local services such as Orange Door and Enhanced Maternal and Child Health, have been key to success in this position.

Her role at Early Childhood Outreach brings together her experience and knowledge, and passion for mentoring educators. Her wish is for all children to be respected as strong, capable, curious, unique individuals and to be given opportunities to actively construct their own knowledge through exploration, collaboration with peers and teachers, and self-expression across various areas of the curriculum.